


jauia 






UNITED STATES OF AMEKICA. 



j"> 0,- 0, 







REVISED AND IMPROVED. 

PHILADELPHIA: H. PERKINS, 134 CHESTNUT STREET. 

MDCCCXXXVIII. 



34f 



7 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1838, by Henry Perkins, 
in the Clerk's office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Printed by Haswell, Barrington, and Haswell. 







To furnish the ingenious youth with the means of 
relieving the tediousness of a long winter's or a wet 
summer's evening, — to enable him to provide for a 
party of juvenile friends, instructive as well as re- 
creative entertainment, without having recourse to 
any of the vulgar modes of killing time, — to qualify 
the hero of his little circle to divert and astonish his 
friends, and, at the same time, to improve himself, 
are the principal objects of the following little Work. 



The boy whose wonder and curiosity have been 
excited by the experiments of the scientific lecturer, 



VI PREFACE. 

or the illusions of the ventriloquist, will here find 
many of these mysteries unveiled, and plain direc- 
tions for performing them, divested, as far as possi- 
ble, of scientific or technical language. Many of the 
descriptions are strictly original, and now, for the 
first time, appear in print ; and especial care has been 
taken to introduce only such Experiments as are 
adapted for performance at the parlour or drawing- 
room table, or fire-side, and such as are practicable 
without expensive chemical or mechanical apparatus, 
and require no implements beyond those which any 
ingenious youth may readily furnish from his own 
resources, or at a trifling expense. 

Another object of these pages is to inform, with- 
out being dryly scientific, — by imparting interest- 
ing facts, to stimulate the young experimentalist to 
inquire into the laws that regulate them, — by aiding 
him to acquire dexterity of practice, to smooth the 



PREFACE. 



Vll 



road to the development of principles, — and, above 
all, to enable him to escape an imputation which 
every boy of spirit would consider the depth of 
disgrace, — that of being "No Conjuror !" 



r.jSr&AXL. 





Transmutationst 



Page 
1 
2 
2 
3 



The Spectral Lamp . 

Curious Change of Colours 

The Protean Light . 

The Chameleon Flowers . 

To change the Colours of Flowers 3 

Changes of the Poppy . . 3 

To change the Colour of a Rose 4 

Light changing White into Black 4 

The Visibly growing Acorn . 4 

Changes in Sap-Green . . 5 

To revive apparently dead Plants 5 



Singular effect of Tears 
Beauties of Crystallization 
To crystallize Camphor . 
Crystallized Tin 
Crystals in hard Water . 
Varieties of Crystals 
Heat from Crystallization 
Splendid Sublimation 
Artificial Ice 
Magic Inks 
Chameleon Liquids . 
The Magic Dyes 
Wine changed into Water 



9 
10 



Page 
Two colourless transparent Li- 
quids become black and opaque 10 
Two colourless Fluids make a 

coloured one .... 10 
Change of colour by colourless 

Fluids 10 

To change a Blue Liquid to White 1] 
Veritable '-Black" Tea . . 11 
Restoration of Colour by Water 11 



The Magic Writin^ 

Two Liquids make~a Solid 

Two Solids make a Liquid 

A solid opaque mass made a 

transparent Liquid 
Two cold Liquids make a hot 

one 

Quadruple Transmutation 
Quintuple Transmutation 
Combination of Colours . 
Union of two Metals without 

Heat 

Magic Breath .... 
Two Bitters make a Sweet 
Visible and Invisible . , 



Sight and Sound. 



Artificial Mirage 
Motion of the Eye 



17 

18 



I Single Vision with two Eyes 
I Two objects seen as one . 



19 
19 



CONTENTS, 



Page 
Only one object can be seen at a 

time 20 

Straight objects seen crooked . 20 
Optical Illusion ... 21 

Pin-hole Focus .... 21 
Optical Deceptions ... 22 
Accuracy of Sight ... 22 
Visual Deception ... 23 
Handwriting upon the Wall . 23 
Imitative Haloes . . .23 
To read a Coin in the dark . 24 
To make a Prism ... 24 
Optical Augmentation . . 25 
Gold Fish in a glass Globe . 26 
Colours produced by the unequal 

action of Light upon the Eyes 26 
Optical Deception ... 27 
Coloured Shadows ... 27 
Colours of Scratches . . 27 
Ocular Spectra .... 28 
Beautiful Colours of Mother of 

Pearl • 28 

White Letters seen further than 

Black 29 

Artificial Rainbow : . . 29 
Fringe about a Candle . . 29 
The Double Coloured Reflection 30 
Luminous Cross ... 30 
Ring of Colours round a Candle 30 
Simple and Cheap Opera-glass 31 
Multiplying Theatres . . 31 
Apparatus for Writing in the 

Dark 32 



Page 
Portable Microscope . . 33 
ThePhenakisticopeorStoboscope 34 
To look at the Sun without injury 35 
Brilliant Water Mirror . . 35 
Optical Illusion under Water . 35 
The Magic Wheels ... 36 
Acoustic Rainbow ... 37 
Transmission of Sound . . 37 
Progress of Sound ... 39 
Sound turning Corners . . 39 
To tell the distance of Thunder 40 
Hearing by the Touch . . 40 
Conversation for the Deaf » 40 
Glass broken by the Voice . 41 
Figures produced by Sound . 41 
Transmitted Vibration . . 42 
Double Vibration ... 42 
Champagne and Sound . . 42 
Music from Palisades . . 43 
Theory of the Jew's Harp . 43 
Music of the Snail ... 44 
To tune a Guitar without the 

assistance of the Ear . . 44 
Music from Glass or Metal Rods 44 
The Tuning-fork a Flute-player 45 
Musical Bottles ... 46 

Theory of Whispering . . 46 
Theory of the Voice . . 46 

Sound along a Wall ... 47 
Sounds more audible by Night 

than by Day .... 47 
Musical Echo .... 47 
Ventriloquism .... 48 



Light and Heat. 



Flashes of Light upon revolving 

Wheels 53 

Decomposition of Light . . 54 
Solar Refraction ... 54 
Incantations ... 55 

To imitate the Light of the 

Sea 55 

Instantaneous Lights . . .56 
To colour the Flame of a Can- 
dle 57 

To divide the Flame of a Can- 
dle 57 



Cane Wick Lamp ... 58 
Camphor and Platinum Lamp 58 
Platinum and Ether Lamp . 58 
Floating Light .... 59 
Substitute for a Wax Taper . 59 
Phosphorescent Fish . . 59 
The Luminous Spectre . . 59 
Light, a Painter ... 60 
Effect of Light upon Crystalliza- 
tion 60 

Effect of Light on Plants . 60 

Instantaneous Light upon Ice 61 



CONTENTS. 



XI 



Page 
White Light from Zinc . . 61 
Brilliant Light from two Metals 61 
Brilliant Light from Steel . 61 
Lighted Tin . . 62 
Light from Gilt Buttons . . 62 
Light from a Flower . . 62 
Light from Sugar ... 62 
Light from the Potato . . 63 
Light from the Oyster . . 63 
Light from Derbyshire Spar . 63 
Light from Oyster-shells . . 64 
Rings of Light in Crystal . . 64 
To strike Light with Cane . 64 
Cause of Transparency . . 64 
Transparency of Gold . . 65 
Tint changed by Thickness . 65 
Shadows made darker by in- 
creased Light . 65 
Miniature Thunder and Light- 
ning * . . 66 
The Burning Glass ... 66 



Page 
. 66 



Magic of Heat . 
Repulsion by Heat . 
Heat passing through Glass 
Metals unequally influenced by 

Heat ..... 
Spontaneous Combustion 
Inequality of Heat in Fire 

irons : 
Expansion of Metal by Heat 
Evaporation of a Metal . 
A Floating Metal on Fire 
Heat and Cold from Flannel . 
Ice melted by Air 
To hold a hot Tea-kettle on the 

Hand .... 
Incombustible Linen 
The Burning Circle . 
Water of different Temperatures 

in the same Vessel . . 71 
Warmth of different Colours . 71 
Substitute for Fire ... 72 



67 

68 



68 
69 



70 
70 
70 

70 
71 
71 



Gas and Steam. 



Laughing Gas .... 


75 


Flame from Cold Metals . 


83 


The Luminous Wand 


76 


Phosphorus in Chlorine . 


83 


To make Carbonic Acid Gas . 


76 


Caoutchouc Balloons 


84 


Carbonic Acid Gas in Wine or 




To increase the Light of Coal 


Beer Vessels 


76 


Gas 


84 


To extinguish Flame with Gas 


77 


Gas from Indian Rubber . 


84 


Effect of Hydrogen on the Voice 


77 


Ether Gas 


85 


Magic Taper .... 


78 


Magic Vapour .... 


85 


The~Gas Candle 


78 


Gas from the union of Metals . 


85 


Gas Bubbles .... 


78 


Invisible Gases made Visible . 


86 


Gas-light in the day-time 


79 


Light under Water . 


86 


Miniature Balloons . 


79 


Gaseous Evanescence 


86 


Miniature Gas-lighting . 


79 


Violet-coloured Gas . 


86 


Musical Gas .... 


80 


To collect Gases 


87 


Miniature Will o'-the-wisp 


81 


The Deflagrating Spoon . 


87 


Phosphoric Illumination . 


81 


What is Steam 7 


87 


Combustion of Iron in Oxygen 




The Steam Engine simplified . 


88 


Gas 


81 


To boil Water by Steam . 


88 


Glow worm in Oxygen Gas 


82 


Distillation in Miniature 


89 


Luminous Charcoal . 


82 


Candle or Fire Crackers . • . 


89 


Brilliant Combustion in Oxygen 


82 


Steam from the Kettle 


89 



Xll 



CONTENTS. 



Fire* Water? and Air. 



Page 
Coloured Flames . . 93 

Yellow Flame . . 94 

Orange-coloured Flame . 94 

Emerald Green Flame . 94 

Instantaneous Flame . 94 

The Cup of Flame . * 95 

To cool Flame by Metal . 95 

Proof that Flame is Hollow \ 95 
Camphor sublimed by Flame \ 95 
Green Fire ... 96 

Brilliant Red Fire . . . 96 
Purple Fire .... 96 
Silver Fire .... 97 

The Fiery Fountain . . 97 

The Artificial Conflagration . 97 
Inflammable Powder . . 97 
Combustion without Flame . 98 
Combustion of Three Metals . 98 
To make Paper Incombustible 98 
Singular Experiments with Glass 

Tubes 98 

Aquatic Bomb . . . .99 
Heat not to be estimated by 

Touch 99 

Flame upon Water . . . 100 
Rose-coloured Flame on Water 100 
To set a Mixture on Fire with 

Water ..... 100 
Waves of Fire on Water . . 100 
Explosion in Water . . .101 
Water from the Flame of a 

Candle 101 

101 
101 
102 
102 
102 
103 
103 
104 
104 

104 
104 



Formation of Water by Fire 
Boiling upon Cold Water 
Currents in Boiling Water 
Hot Water lighter than Cold . 
Expansion of Water by Cold . 
The Cup of Tantalus 
Imitative Diving Bell 
The Water-proof Sieve . 
More than full 
To cause Wine and Water to 

change places 
Pyramid of Alum 



Page 
"Visible Vibration . . . 105 
Charcoal in Sugar . . . 106 
Floating Needles . . . 106 
Water in a Sling . . . 106 
Attraction in a Glass of Water 106 
To prevent Cork floating in 

Water 107 

Instantaneous Freezing . . 107 
To freeze Water with Ether . 107 
Production of Nitre . . . 108 
Curious Transposition . . 108 
Animal Barometer . . . 108 
Magic Soap . . . .108 
Equal Pressure of Water . 109 
To empty a Glass under Water 109 
To empty a Glass of Water with- 
out touching it 109 
Decomposition of Water . . 110 
Water heavier than Wine . 110 
To inflate a Bladder without Air 1 10 
Air and Water Balloon . . 110 
Heated Air Balloon . . . Ill 
The Pneumatic Tinder-box . Ill 
The Bacchus Experiment . Ill 
The Mysterious Circles . . 110 
Prince Rupert's Drops . . 114 
Vegetable Hygrometer i . 114 
The Pneumatic Dancer . . 115 
The Ascending Snake . . 116 
The Pneumatic Phial . . 116 
Resin Bubbles . . . .117 
Moisture of the Atmosphere . 117 
Climates of a Room . . . 117 
Bubbles in Champagne . . 118 
Proofs that Air is a heavy 

Fluid 118 

To support a Pea on Air . . 119 
Pyrophorus, or Air-tinder . 119 
Beauty of a Soap-bubble . . 120 
Why a Guinea falls more quick- 
ly than a Feather through the 

Air 121 

Solidity of Air . . . .122 
Breathing and Smelling . . 122 



CONTENTS. 



Xlll 



Sleights and Subtleties* 



Page 
The Ring and the Handkerchief 127 
The Knotted Handkerchief . 128 
The Invisible Springs . . 130 
The Miraculous Apple . . 131 
The Self-balanced Pail . . 132 
The Phantom at command . 132 
The Miraculous Shilling . . 134 
The Locomotive Shilling . . 135 
The Penetrative Sixpence . 136 
The Vanishing Sixpence . . 136 
To make a Sixpence balance and 
spin on its edge on the point of 
a Needle . . . .137 

The Multiplying Coin . . 137 
The Magic Rat Trap . . 137 
The Velocity of Motion . . 138 
The Exploding Bubble . . 139 
The Magic Picture . . .139 
Artificial Lightning . . . 140 
Three objects discernible only 

with both Eyes . . .140 
To tell by a Watch Dial the 
Hour when a Person intends 

to rise 140 

To make a Ring suspend by a 
Thread, after the Thread has 
been burned .... 141 
To melt a piece of Money in a 



Page 
Walnut-shell without inj uring 
the Shell .... 

The Magical Mirrors 
The Enchanted Bottle 
The Armed Apparition . 
To extract the Silver out of a 
Ring that is thickly Gilded, so 
that the Gold may remain en 

tire 

Curious Experiment with £ 

Glass of Water 

A Luminous Bottle, which will 

show the Hour on a Watch in 

the Dark .... 

The Wonderful Hat 

To bring a Person down upon a 

Feather 145 

The Apparent Impossibility . 146 
An Omelet cooked in a Hat over 

the Flame of a Candle . 146 

The Impossible Omelet . . 147 
Goifvoucan .... 147 
The Figure Puzzle . . .147 
The Visible Invisible . . 147 
The Double Meaning . . 148 
Quite tired out .... 148 
Something out of the Common 148 
To rub one Sixpence into two 149 
Magic Circle . . . .149 



141 
142 
143 
143 



144 
144 



144 
145 



Illusions of Touch . 
Illusion of the Taste 
The General Bleacher 
Influence of coloured Glass on 

bulbous Roots 
The Spinning-top " asleep" 
To judge of Weights 
Quicksilver and Oil united 
To dissolve the Soda in Glass 
Waterproof Paper . 
To Dissolve Gold or Platinum 



Melange. 




. 153 


Colder than Ice 


157 


. 154 


Contra-crystallization 


157 


. 154 


One and one do not make two 


158 


on 


To copy Writing instantly 


158 


. 155 


The Rival Dials 


158 


. 155 


To spin Indian Rubber . 


158 


. 156 


Indelible Writing 


159 


. 156 


Vegetable Anatomy 


159 


. 156 


To tell what o'Clock it is by the 




. 157 


Moon 


160 


l 157 


The Physiognotype 


161 



CONTENTS. 



Page 
Infinite Divisibility of Matter 161 
Holding the Breath . . .162 
Sand in the Hour-Glass . . 162 
Resistance of Sand . . . 163 
Glass broken by Sand . . 164 
To bleach Ivory . . . 164 
Vanishing Shells . . -164 
The Magic Egg . t . 164 
The Magic Whirlpool . . 165 
Magic Porcelain . . • 167 
A Galvanic Tongue . . : 168 
Drinking Porter out of Pewter 168 
Electric or Galvanic Preserva- 
tion 168 

Light from the Diamond . 169 

To break a Stone with a blow 
of the Fist ... t 169 



Page 
Mimic Frost-work . . .169 
To melt Lead in a piece of 

Paper i .... 170 
Hydrostatic Balance . . 170 
Metallic Reduction . . . 171 
Electrical Attraction and Re- 

pulsion . 171 
Alchemical Electricity .' . 172 
The Electric Balls . . .173 
The Electric Dance . . . 173 
Electric Light . . . .173 
Electric Light from Brown Pa- 
per 174 

Sudden Production of Light - 174 
Electricity of the Cat . . 174 





^S t &E^IMWS^ [ l£ , a®E3'© c 




THE SPECTRAL LAMP. 

nx some common salt with spirit of wine in a 
platinum or metallic cup ; set the cup upon 
a wire frame over a spirit-lamp, which should 
be inclosed on each side, or in a dark-lantern : 
when the cup becomes heated, and the spirit 
ignited, it will burn with a strong yellow 
flame; if, however, it should not be perfectly yellow, throw 
more salt into the cup. The lamp being thus prepared, all 
other lights should be extinguished, and the yellow lamp in- 
troduced, when an appalling change will be exhibited ; all the 
objects in the room will be but of one colour, and the complex- 
ions of the several persons, whether old or young, fair or 
brunette, will be metamorphosed to a ghastly, death-like yellow ; 
whilst the gayest dresses, as the brightest crimson, the choicest 
lilac, the most vivid blue or green — all will be changed into 
one monotony of yellow : each person will be inclined to laugh 

2 



2 TRANSMUTATIONS. 

at his neighbour, himself insensible of being one of the spectral 
company. 

Their astonishment may be heightened by removing the yellow 
light to one end of the room, and restoring the usual or white 
light at the other ; when one side of each person's dress will 
resume its original colour, while the other will remain yellow ; 
one cheek may bear the bloom of health, and the other, the yellow 
of jaundice. Or if, when the yellow light only is burning, the 
white light be introduced within a wire sieve, the company and 
the objects in the apartment will appear yellow, mottled with 
white. 

Red light may be produced by mixing with the spirit in the 
cup over the lamp, salt of strontian instead of common salt ; and 
the effect of the white or yellow lights, if introduced through a 
sieve upon the red light, will be even more striking than the 
white upon the yellow light. 

CURIOUS CHANGE OF COLOURS. 

Let there be no other light than a taper in the room ; then put 
on a pair of dark green spectacles, and having closed one eye, 
view the taper with the other. Suddenly remove the spectacles, 
and the taper will assume a bright red appearance ; but, if the 
spectacles be instantly replaced, the eye will be unable to dis- 
tinguish any thing for a second or two. The order of colours 
will, therefore, be as follows : — green, red, green, black. 

THE PROTEAN LIGHT. 

Soak a cotton wick in a strong solution of salt and water, dry 
it, place it in a spirit lamp, and, when lit, it will give a bright 
yellow light for a long time. If you look through a piece of blue 



TRANSMUTATIONS. 6 

glass at the flame, it will loose all its yellow light, and you will 
only perceive feeble violet rays. If, before the blue glass, you 
place a pale yellow glass, the lamp will be absolutely invisible, 
though a candle may be distinctly seen through the same glasses. 

THE CHAMELEON FLOWERS. 

Trim a spirit-lamp, add a little salt to the wick, and light it. 
Set near it, a scarlet geranium, and the flower will appear 
yellow. Purple colours, in the same light, appear blue. 

TO CHANGE THE COLOURS OF FLOWERS. 

Hold over a lighted match, a purple columbine, or a blue 
larkspur, and it will change first to pink, and then to black. The 
yellow of other flowers, held as above, will continue unchanged. 
Thus, the purple tint will instantly disappear from a heart's-ease, 
but the yellow will remain ; and the yellow of a wall-flower will 
continue the same, though the brown streak will be discharged. 
If a scarlet, crimson, or maroon dahlia be tried, the colour will 
change to yellow; a fact known to gardeners, who by this 
mode, variegate their growing dahlias. 

CHANGES OF THE POPPY. 

Some flowers which are red, become blue by merely bruising 
them. Thus, if the petals of the common corn-poppy be rubbed 
upon white paper, they will stain it purple, which may be made 
green by washing it over with a strong solution of potash in water. 
Put poppy petals into very dilute muriatic acid, and the infusion 
will be of a florid red colour ; by adding a little chalk, it will be- 
come the colour of port wine ; and this tint, by the addition of 
potash, may be changed to green or yellow. 



TRANSMUTATIONS. 



TO CHANGE THE COLOUR OF A ROSE. 

Hold a red rose over the blue flame of a common match, and 
the colour will be discharged wherever the fume touches the 
leaves of the flower, so as to render it beautifully variegated, or 
entirely white. If it be then dipped into water, the redness, 
after a time, will be restored. 

LIGHT CHANGING WHITE INTO BLACK. 

Write upon Mnen with permanent ink, (which is a strong 
solution of nitrate of silver,) and the characters will be scarcely 
visible ; remove the linen into a dark room, and they will not 
change ; but expose them to a strong light, and they will be in- 
delibly black. 

THE VISIBLY GROWING ACORN. 

Cut a circular piece of card to fit the top of a hyacinth glass, 
so as to rest upon the ledge, and exclude the air. Pierce a hole 
through the centre of the card, and pass 
through it a strong thread, having a small 
piece of wood tied to one end, which, 
resting transversely on the card, pre- 
vents its being drawn through. To the 
other end of the thread attach an acorn ; 
and, having half filled the glass with 
water, suspend the acorn at a short dis- 
tance from the surface. 

The glass must be kept in a warm 
room ; and, in a few days, the steam 
which has generated in the glass will 
hang from the acorn in a large drop. 
Shortly afterwards, the acorn will burst, 
the root will protrude and thrust itself 




TRANSMUTATIONS. 5 

into the water ; and, in a few days more, a stem will shoot out 
at the other end, and, rising upwards, will press against the 
card, in which an orifice must be made to allow it to pass 
through, From this stem, small leaves will soon be observed 
to sprout ; and, in the course of a few weeks, you will have a 
handsome oak plant, several inches in height. 

CHANGES IN SAP GREEN. 

Sap green is the inspissated juice of the buckthorn berries: if 
a little carbonate of soda be dropped into it, the colour will be 
changed from green to yellow; it may be reddened by acids, 
and its green colour restored by chalk. 

TO REVIVE APPARENTLY DEAD PLANTS. 

Make a strong dilution of camphor in spirit of wine, which 
add to soft water, in the proportion of a dram to a pint. If 
withered, or apparently dead plants be put into this liquid, and 
allowed to remain therein from two to three hours, they will 
revive. 

SINGULAR EFFECT OF TEARS. 

If tears are dropped on a dry piece of paper, stained with the 
juice of the petals of mallows or violets, they will change the 
paper to a permanently green colour. 

BEAUTIES OF CRYSTALLIZATION. 

Dissolve alum in hot water until no more can be dissolved in 
it; place in it a smooth glass rod and a stick of the same size ; 
next day, the stick will be found covered with crystals, but the 
glass rod will be free from them : in this case, the crystals cling 
to the rough surface of the stick, but have no hold upon the 



6 TRANSMUTATIONS. 

smooth surface of the glass rod. But, if the rod be roughened 
with a file at certain intervals, and then placed in the alum and 
water, the crystals will adhere to the rough surfaces, and leave 
the smooth bright and clear. 

Tie some threads of lamp-cotton irregularly around a copper 
wire or glass rod; place it in a hot solution of blue vitriol, strong 
as above, and the threads will be covered with beautiful blue 
crystals, while the glass rod will be bare. 

Bore a hole through a piece of coke, and suspend it by a 
string from a stick, placed across a hot solution of alum ; it will 
float; but, as it becomes loaded with crystals, it will sink in the 
solution according to the length of the string. Gas-coke has 
mostly a smooth, shining, and almost metallic surface, which the 
crystals will avoid, while they will cling only to the most ir- 
regular and porous parts. 

If powdered tumeric be added to the hot solution of alum, the 
crystals will be of a bright yellow ; litmus will cause them to be 
of a bright red; logwood will yield purple; and common 
writing ink, black ; and the more muddy the solution, the finer 
will be the crystals. 

To keep coloured alumn crystals from breaking, or losing 
their colour, place them under a glass shade with a saucer of 
water ; this will preserve the atmosphere moist, and prevent 
the crystals getting too dry. 

If crystals be formed on wire, they will be liable to break off, 
from the expansion and contraction of the wire by changes of 
temperature. 



TRANSMUTATIONS. 7 

TO CRYSTALLIZE CAMPHOR. 

Dissolve camphor in spirit of wine, moderately heated, until 
the spirit will not dissolve any more ; pour some of the solution 
into a cold glass, and the camphor will instantly crystallize in 
beautiful tree-like forms, such as we see in the show-glasses of 
camphor in druggists' windows. 

CRYSTALLIZED TIN. 

Mix half an ounce of nitric acid, six drams of muriatic acid, 
and two ounces of water ; pour the mixture upon a piece of tin 
plate previously made hot, and, after washing it in the mixture, 
it will bear a beautiful crystalline surface, in feathery forms. 
This is the celebrated moiree rnetallique, and, when varnished, 
is made into ornamental boxes, &c. The figures will vary ac- 
cording to the degree of heat previously given to the metal. 

CRYSTALS IN HARD WATER. 

Hold in a wine-glass of hard water, a crystal of oxalic acid, 
and white threads will instantly descend through the liquid, 
suspended from the crystal. 

VARIETIES OF CRYSTALS. 

Make distinct solutions of common salt, nitre, and alum ; set 
them in three saucers in any warm place, and let part of the water 
dry away or evaporate; then remove them to a warm room. The 
particles of the salts in each saucer will begin to attract each 
other, and form crystals, but not all of the same figure : the 
common salt will yield crystals with six square and equal faces, 
or sides ; the nitre, six-sided crystals ; and the alum, eight-sided 
crystals ; and if these crystals be dissolved over and over again, 
they will always appear in the same forms. 



TRANSMUTATIONS. 



HEAT FROM CRYSTALLIZATION. 



Make a strong solution of Epsom salts in hot water, and while 
warm, bottle it, cork it closely, and it will remain liquid : draw 
out the cork, when the salts will immediately crystallize, and 
in the process, the remaining liquid and the bottle will become 
very warm. 

SPLENDID SUBLIMATION. 

Put into a flask a small portion of iodine ; hold the flask over 
the flame of a spirit-lamp, and, from the state of rich ruby crystals, 
the iodine, on being heated, will become a ruby-coloured trans- 
parent gas ; but, in cooling, will resume its crystalline form. 

ARTIFICIAL ICE. 

Mix four ounces of nitrate of ammonia, and four ounces of 
subcarbonate of soda, with four ounces of water, in a tin vessel, 
and in three hours the mixture will produce ten ounces of ice. 

MAGIC INKS. 

Dissolve oxide of cobalt in acetic acid, to which add a little 
nitre; write with this solution, hold the writing to the fire, and it 
will be of a pale rose colour, which will disappear on cooling. 

Dissolve equal parts of sulphate of copper and muriate of 
ammonia in water; write with the solution, and it will give a 
yellow colour when heated, which will disappear when cold. 

Dissolve nitrate of bismuth in water; write with the solution, 
and the characters will be invisible when dry, but will become 
legible on immersion in water. 



TRANSMUTATIONS. 9 

Dissolve, in water, muriate of cobalt, which is of a bluish-green 
colour, and the solution will be pink ; write with it, and the 
characters will be scarcely visible; but, if gently heated, they will 
appear in brilliant green, which will disappear as the paper cools. 

CHAMELEON LIQUIDS. 

Put a small portion of the compound called mineral chameleon 
into several glasses, pour upon each water at different tempera- 
tures, and the contents of each glass will exhibit a different 
shade of colour. A very hot solution will be of a beautiful green 
colour ; a cold one, a deep purple. 

Make a colourless solution of sulphate of copper ; add to it a 
little ammonia, equally colourless, and the mixture will be of an 
intense blue colour ; add to it a little sulphuric acid, and the blue 
colour will disappear ; pour in a little solution of caustic am- 
monia, and the blue colour will be restored. Thus, may the 
liquor be thrice changed at pleasure. 

THE MAGIC DYES. 

Dissolve indigo in diluted sulphuric acid, and add to it an 
equal quantity of solution of carbonate of potass. If a piece of 
white cloth be dipped in the mixture, it will be changed to blue ; 
yellow cloth, in the same mixture, may be changed to green ; 
red to purple, and blue litmus paper to red. 

Nearly fill a wine-glass with the juice of beet-root, which is 
of a deep red colour; add a little lime water, and the mixture 
will be colourless; dip into it a piece of white cloth, dry it rapidly, 
and in a few hours, the cloth will become red. 



10 TRANSMUTATIONS. 

WINE CHANGED INTO WATER. 

Mix a little solution of subacetate of lead with port wine ; 
filter the mixture through blotting paper, and a colourless liquid 
will pass through ; to this add a small quantity of dry salt of 
tartar, when a spirit will rise, which may be inflamed on the 
surface of the water. 

TWO COLOURLESS TRANSPARENT LIQUIDS BECOME BLACK 
AND OPAQUE. 

Have in one vessel some sulphuric acid, and in another an 
infusion of nut-galls ; they are both colourless and transparent ; 
mix them, and they will become black and opaque. 

TWO COLOURLESS FLUIDS MAKE A COLOURED ONE. 

Put into a wine-glass of water, a few drops of prussiate of 
potash ; and into a second glass of water, a little weak solution 
of sulphate of iron in water : pour the colourless mixtures 
together into a tumbler, and they will be immediately changed 
to a bright deep blue colour. 

Or, mix the solution of prussiate of potash with that of nitrate 
of bismuth, and a yellow will be the product. 

Or, mix the solution of prussiate of potash with that of sulphate 
of copper, and the mixture will be of a reddish brown colour. 

CHANGE OF COLOUR BY COLOURLESS FLUIDS. 

Three different colours may be produced from the same in- 
fusion, merely by the addition of three colourless fluids. Slice 
a little red cabbage, pour boiling water upon it, and when cold, 
decant the clear infusion, which divide into three wine-glasses : 
to one, add a small quantity of solution of alum in water; to the 
second, a little solution of potash in water ; and to the third, a few 



TRANSMUTATIONS. 1 1 

drops of muriatic acid. The liquor in the first glass will assume 
a purple colour, the second, a bright green, and the third a rich 
crimson. 

Put a dram of powdered nitrate of cobalt into a phial contain- 
ing an ounce of the solution of caustic potass ; cork the phial, 
and the liquid will assume a blue colour, next a lilac, afterwards 
a peach colour, and lastly a light red. 

TO CHANGE A BLUE LIQUID TO WHITE. 

Dissolve a small lump of indigo in sulphuric acid, by the aid 
of moderate heat, and you will obtain an intense blue colour: add 
a drop of this to half a pint of water, so as to dilute the blue ; 
then pour some of it into strong chloride of lime, and the blue 
will be bleached with almost magical velocity. 

VERITABLE " BLACK " TEA. 

Make a cup of strong green tea ; dissolve a little green cop- 
peras in water, which add to the tea, and its colour will be black. 

RESTORATION OF COLOUR BY WATER. 

Water being a colourless fluid, ought, one would imagine, when 
mixed with other substances of no decided colour, to produce a 
colourless compound. Nevertheless, it is to water only that blue 
vitriol, or sulphate of copper, owes its vivid blueness ; as will be 
plainly evinced by the following simple experiment. Heat a 
few crystals of the vitriol in a fire shovel, pulverize them, and 
the powder will be of a dull and dirty white appearance. Pour a 
little water upon this, when a slight hissing noise will be heard, 
and at the same moment, the blue colour will instantly re-appear. 

Under the microscope, the beauty of this experiment will be 
increased, for the instant that a drop of water is placed in contact 



12 TRANSMUTATIONS. 

with the vitriol, the powder maybe seen to shoot into blue prisms. 
If a crystal of prussiate of potash be similarly heated, its yellow 
colour will vanish, but re-appear on being dropped into water. 

THE MAGIC WRITING. 

Dissolve a small portion of green-copperas in water, and soak 
in it sheets of writing paper, so as to allow them to be taken out 
whole, and then dried ; then, cover the paper with very finely 
powdered galls, and write on it with a pen dipped in water; when 
dry, brush off the galls, and the writing will appear. 

TWO LIQUIDS MAKE A SOLID. 

Dissolve muriate of lime in water until it will dissolve no more ; 
make also a similar solution of carbonate of potash ; both will be 
transparent fluids; but if equal quantities of each be mixed and 
stirred together^ they will become a solid mass. 

TWO SOLIDS MAKE A LIQUID. 

Rub together in a mortar, equal quantities of the crystals of 
Glauber's salts and nitrate of ammonia, and the two salts will 
slowly become a liquid. 

A SOLID OPAQUE MASS MADE A TRANSPARENT LIQUID. 

Take the solid mixture of the solutions of muriate of lime and 
carbonate of potash, pour upon it a very little nitric acid, and the 
solid opaque mass will be changed to a transparent liquid. 

TWO COLD LIQUIDS MAKE A HOT ONE. 

Mix four drams of sulphuric acid, (oil of vitrol,) with one 
dram of cold water, suddenly, in a cup, and the mixture will be 
nearly half as hot again as boiling water. 



TRANSMUTATIONS. 1 3 

QUADRUPLE TRANSMUTATION. 

Dissolve a small piece of nickel in nitric acid, and it will 
appear of a fine grass-green colour ; add to it a little ammonia, 
and a blue precipitate will be formed ; this will change to a 
purple-red in a few hours, and the addition of any acid will con- 
vert it to an apple-green. 

QUINTUPLE TRANSMUTATION. 

Heat potassium over the flame of a spirit-lamp, and the colour 
will change from white to a bright azure, thence to a bright 
blue, green, and olive. 

COMBINATION OF COLOURS. 

Cut out a disc or circle of pasteboard, and cover it with paper 
half green and half black : cause the disc to be rapidly turned 
round, (like the shafts of a toy wind-mill,) and the colours will 
combine and produce white. 

UNION OF TWO METALS WITHOUT HEAT. 

Cut a circular piece of gold-leaf, called "dentist's gold," about 
half an inch in diameter ; drop upon it a globule of mercury, 
about the size of a small pea, and if they be left for a short time, 
the gold will lose its solidity and yellow colour, and the mercury 
its liquid form, making a soft mass, of the colour of mercury. 

MAGIC BREATH. 

Half fill a glass tumbler with lime-water ; breathe into it 
frequently, at the same time stirring it w 7 ith a piece of glass. 
The fluid, which before was perfectly transparent, will presently 
become quite white, and, if allowed to remain at rest, real chalk 
w r ill be deposited. 



14 



TRANSMUTATIONS. 



TWO BITTERS MAKE A SWEET. 

It has been discovered, that a mixture of nitrate of silver 
with hypo-sulphate of soda, both of which are remarkably bitter, 
will produce the sweetest known substance. 



VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. 



Write with French chalk on a looking-glass ; wipe it with a 
handkerchief, and the lines will disappear ; breathe on it, and 
they will re-appear. This alteration will take place for a great 
number of times, and after the lapse of a considerable period. 





S5 IS (£!■ HI S J&MW) ^©WMWa 




ARTIFICIAL MIRAGE, 

PJ^^rv^^HE mirage is an optical phenomenon, produced 
l®]Si by the refractive power of the atmosphere. 
j^> The appearance presented is that of the double 
» image of an object in the air; one of the images 
,, being in the natural position, and the other in- 
W^^L verted, so as to resemble a natural object and 
its image in the water. The mirage is commonly vertical, 
or upright, that is, presenting the appearance, above described, 
of one object over another, like a ship above its shadow in the 
water. Sometimes, however, the image is horizontal, or upon 
the water, and at other times, it is seen on the right or left 
hand of the real object, or on both sides. 

All the effects of the mirage may be represented artificially to 
the eye. For this purpose, provide a glass tumbler two-thirds 
full of water, and pour spirit of wine upon it ; or pour into a 
tumbler some syrup, and fill it up with water: as the water and 

3 



18 SIGHT AND SOUND. 

spirit, or the syrup and water incorporate, they will produce a 
refractive power ; then, by looking through the mixed or inter- 
mediate liquids at any object held behind the tumblers, its inverted 
image may be seen. The same effect, Dr. Walloston has shown, 
may be produced, by looking along the side of a red-hot poker at a 
word or object ten or twelve feet distant. At a distance less than 
three-eighths of an inch from the line of the poker, an inverted 
image was seen ; and within and without that, an erect image* 

The above phenomena may likewise be illustrated, by holding 
a heated iron above a tumbler of water, until the whole becomes 
changed ; then withdraw the iron, and, through the water, the 
phenomena of the mirage may be seen in the finest manner. 

Or, look directly above the flame of a candle, or over the glass 
of a lighted lamp, and a tremulous motion may be observed ; 
because the warm air rises, and its refracting power being less 
than that of the colder air, the currents are rendered visible 
by the distortion of objects viewed through them. The same 
effect is observable over chimney pots, and slated roofs which 
have been heated by the sun. 

MOTION OF THE EYE. 

On entering a room, we imagine that we see the whole side 
of it at once, as the cornice, the pattern of the paper-hanging, 
pictures, chairs, &c, but we are deceived ; for each object is 
rapidly, but singly presented to the eye, by its constant motion. 
If the eye were steady, vision would be lost. For example, 
fix the eye on one point, and you will find the whole scene be- 
come more and more obscure, till it vanishes. Then, if you 
change the direction of the eye ever so little, at once the whole 
scene will be again perfect before you. 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 19 

SINGLE VISION WITH TWO EYES. 

As we have two eyes, and a separate image of every external 
object is formed in each, it may be asked, why do we not see 
double ? The answer is, it is a matter of habit. Habit alone 
teaches us, that the sensations of sight correspond to any thing 
external, and shows to what they correspond. Thus, place a wafer 
on a table before you ; direct your eyes to it, that is, bring its image 
on both retinae to those parts which habit has ascertained to be the 
most sensible, and best situated for seeing distinctly, and you will 
see only the single wafer. But, while looking at the wafer, squeeze 
the upper part of one eye downwards, by pressing on the eyelid 
with the finger, and thereby forcibly throw the image on another 
part of the retina of that eye, and double vision will be immediately 
produced ; that is, two wafers will be distinctly seen, which will 
appear to recede from each other as the pressure is stronger, and 
approach, and finally blend into one, as it is relieved. The same 
effect maybe produced without pressure, by directing the eyes to 
a point nearer to, or farther from them, than the wafer ; the optic 
axes, in this case, being both directed away from the object seen. 

TWO OBJECTS SEEN AS ONE. 

On a sheet of black paper, or other dark ground, place two 
white wafers, having their centres three inches distant. Vertically 
above the paper, and to the left, look with the right eye, at twelve 
inches from it, and so that, when looking down on it, the line 
joining the two eyes shall be parallel to that joining the centre of 
the wafers. In this situation, close the left eye, and look full with 
.the right perpendicularly at the wafer below it, when this wafer 
only will be seen, the other being completely invisible. But, if it 
be removed ever so little from its place, either to the right or left, 



20 SIGHT AND SOUND. 

above or below, it will become immediately visible, and start, as 
it were, into existence. The distances here set down may, 
perhaps, vary slightly in different eyes. 

Upon this curious effect, Sir John Herschel observes: "It will 
cease to be thought singular, that this fact of the absolute invisi- 
bility of objects in a certain point of the field of view of each eye, 
should be one of which not one person in ten thousand is apprised, 
when we learn, that it is not extremely uncommon to find persons 
who have for some time been totally blind with one eye, without 
being aware of the fact." 

ONLY ONE OBJECT CAN BE SEEN AT A TIME. 

Look at the pattern of the paper-hanging of a room, a picture, 
or almost any other object in it; then, without altering your 
position, call to mind the magnificent dome of St. Paul's Cathe- 
dral ; the pattern of the paper-hanging, or the subject of the pic- 
ture, though actually impressed on the retina of the eye, will be 
momentarily lost sight of by the mind ; and, during the instant, 
the recollected image of the dome rising from the dingy roofs of 
London, will be distinctly seen, but in indistinct colouring and 
outline. When the object of the recollection is answered, the 
dome will quickly disappear, and the paper-hanging pattern, or 
the picture, again resume the ascendancy. 

STRAIGHT OBJECTS SEEN CROOKED. 

Look through a series of vertical bars, as those of a palisade, or 
of a Venetian window-blind, at the wheel of a carriage passing 
along the street, and the spokes of the wheel, instead of appearing 
straight, as they naturally would do, if no bars intervened, seem to 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 21 

be of a curved form. The velocity of the wheel must not be so 
great as to prevent the eye from following the spokes as they 
revolve. 

Again, when the disk of the wheel, instead of being marked by 
a number of radiant lines, has only one radius marked upon it, it 
presents the appearance, when rolled behind the bars, of a number 
of radii, each having the curvature corresponding to its situation, 
their number being the same as that of the bars through which you 
look at the wheel. It is, therefore, evident that the several 
portions of one and the same line, seen through the intervals of 
the bars, form on the retina of the eye so many different radii. 

OPTICAL ILLUSION. 

Shut one eye, direct the other to any fixed point, as the head 
of a pin, and you will indistinctly see all other objects. Suppose 
one of these to be a strip of white paper, or a pen lying upon 
a table covered with a green cloth: either of them will disappear 
altogether, as if taken off the table ; for the impression of the green 
cloth will entirely extend itself over that part of the retina which 
the image of the pen occupied. The vanished pen will, however, 
shortly re-appear, and again vanish ; and the same effect will 
take place when both eyes are open, though not so readily as 
with one eye. 

PIN-HOLE FOCUS. 

Make a pin-hole in a card, which hold between a candle and a 
piece of white paper, in a dark room, when an exact representation 
of the flame, but inverted, will be seen depicted upon the paper, 
and be enlarged as the paper is drawn from the hole ; and if, in a 



22 SIGHT AND SOUND. 

dark room, a white screen or sheet of paper be extended at a 
few feet from a small round hole, an exact picture of all 
external objects, of their natural colours and forms, will be seen 
traced on the screen ; moving objects being represented in motion, 
and stationary ones at rest. 

OPTICAL DECEPTIOxNS. 

Prick a hole in a card with a needle ; place the same needle 
near the eye, in a line with the card-hole, look by daylight at 
the end of the needle, and it will appear to be behind the card, 
and reversed. 

Prick a hole with a pin in a black card, place it very near the 
eye, look through it at any small object, and it will appear larger 
as it is nearer the eye ; while, if we observe it without the card, 
it will appear sensibly of the same magnitude at all parts of the 
room. 

ACCURACY OF SIGHT. 

Rule a short line upon a slate, and upon another slate rule 
another line, one-eleventh longer than the first : a person pos- 
sessing what is called "a true eye," may perceive the difference 
in length, even though fifty or sixty seconds elapse between 
looking at the first and the second lines. If they differ only 
one-twentieth, then an interval of thirty-five seconds may elapse 
without destroying the judgment ; but, if it be longer, the 
estimate will be incorrect. When the difference between the 
lines amounts only to one-fiftieth, an interval of three seconds 
between- the examination of each, is the longest that can be allowed 
without interfering with the correctness of the comparison. 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 23 

VISUAL DECEPTION. 

Let a room be only lit by the feeble gleam of a fire, almost 
extinguished, and the eye will see with difficulty the objects in 
the apartment, from the small degree of light with which they 
happen to be illuminated. The more exertion is made to ascertain 
what these objects are, as by fixing the eye more steadily upon 
them, the greater will be the difficulty in accomplishing it. 
The eye will be painfully agitated, the object will swell and 
contract, and partly disappear, but will again become visible 
when the eye has recovered from its delirium. 

HAND- WRITING UPON THE WALL. 

Cut the word or words to be shown, out of a thick card or 
pasteboard, place it before a lighted lamp, and the writing will 
be distinctly seen upon the wall of the apartment. 

IMITATIVE HALOES. 

Look at a candle, or any other luminous body, through a plate 
of glass, covered with vapour, or dust in a finely divided state, 
and it will be surrounded with a ring of colours, like a halo 
round the sun or moon. These rings increase with the size of 
the particles which produce them ; and their brilliancy and 
number depend on the uniform size of these particles. 

Or, haloes may be imitated by crystallizing various salts upon 
thin plates of glass, and looking through the plate at a candle or 
the sun. For example, spread a few drops of a strong solution 
ofalumovera plate of glass so as to crystallize quickly, and 
cover it with a crust scarcely visible to the eye. Then place 



24 SIGHT AND SOUND* 

the eye close behind the smooth side of the glass plate, look 
through it at a candle, and you will perceive three fine haloes 
at different distances, encircling the flame. 

TO READ A COIN IN THE DARK. 

By the following simple method, the legend or inscription upon 
a coin may be read in absolute darkness. Polish the surface of 
any silver coin as highly as possible ; touch the raised parts with 
aqua-fortis, so as to make them rough, taking care that the parts 
not raised retain their polish. Place the coin thus prepared upon 
red-hot iron, remove it into a dark room, and the figure and in- 
scription will become more luminous than the rest, and may be 
distinctly seen and read by the spectator. If the lower parts of 
the coin be roughened with the acid, and the raised parts be 
polished, the effect will be reversed, and the figure and inscrip- 
tion will appear dark, or black upon a light or white ground. 

This experiment will be more surprising if made with an old 
coin, from which the figure and inscription have been obliterated ; 
for, when the coin is placed upon the red-hot iron, the figure 
and inscription may be distinctly read upon a surface which had 
hitherto appeared blank. 

This experiment may be made with small coins upon a heated 
poker, a flat iron, or a salamander. The effect will be more 
perfect if the red-hot iron be concealed from the eye of the 
spectator : this may be done by placing upon the iron a piece of 
blackened tin, with a hole cut out, the size of the coin to be heated. 

TO MAKE A PRISM. 

Provide two small pieces of window-glass and a lump of wax ; 
Soften and mould the wax, stick the two pieces of glass upon it, 
so that they meet, as in the cut, where w is the wax, g and g 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 



25 



the glasses stuck to it, (Fig-. 1.) The end view (Fig. 2) will 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. 




show the angle, a 9 at which the 
pieces of glass meet ; into which 
angle put a drop of water. 

To use the instrument thus made, 
make a small hole, or a narrow 
horizontal slit, so that you can see the sky through it, when you 
stand at some distance from it in the room. Or a piece of paste- 
board placed in the upper part of the window-sash, with a slit 
cut in it, will serve the purpose of the hole in the shutter. The 
slit should be about one-tenth of an inch wide, and an inch or 
two long, with even edges. Then hold the prism in your hand, 
place it close to your eye, and look through the drop of water, when 
you will see a beautiful train of colours, called a spectrum ; at one 
end red, at the other violet, and in the middle yellowish green. 
The annexed figure will better explain the direction in which 

to look: here, e, is the eye 
of the spectator, p, is the 
prism, h, the hole in the 
shutter or pasteboard, s, the 
spectrum. By a little prac- 
tice, you will soon become 
accustomed to look in the 
right direction, and will 
see the colours very bright and distinct. 

By means of this simple contrivance, white light may be 
analysed and proved to consist of coloured rays, and several of its 
properties be beautifully illustrated. 

OPTICAL AUGMENTATION. 

Take a glass rummer that is narrow at bottom and wide at top, 




26 SIGHT AND SOUND. 

into which put a half-sovereign, and fill the glass three-fourths 
with water ; place on it a piece of paper, and then a plate, and 
turn the glass upside down quickly, that the water may not es- 
cape : by looking sideways at the glass, you will perceive a sove- 
reign at the bottom, and higher up the half-sovereign, floating 
near the surface. Fill the glass with water, and the large piece 
only will be visible. 

GOLD FISH IN A GLASS GLOBE. 

A single gold fish in a globe vase, is often mistaken for two 
fishes, because it is seen as well by the light bent through the 
upper surface of the water, as by straight rays passing through the 
side of the vase. 

COLOURS PRODUCED BY THE UNEQUAL ACTION OF LIGHT UPON 
THE EYES. 

If we hold a slip of white paper vertically, about a foot from the 
eye, and direct both eyes to an object at some distance beyond it, 
so as to see the slip of paper double, then, when a candle is brought 
near the right eye, so as to act strongly upon it, while the left eye 
is protected from its light, the left-hand slip of paper will be of a 
tolerably bright green colour, while the right-hand slip of paper, 
seen by the left eye, will be of a red colour. If the one image 
overlaps the other, the colour of the overlapping parts will be 
white, arising from a mixture of the complementary red and green. 
When equal candles are held equally near to each eye, each of 
the images of the slip of paper is white. If, when the paper is 
seen red and green by holding the candle to the right eye, we 
quickly take it to the left eye, we shall find that the left image 
of the slip of paper gradually changes from green to red, and the 
right one from red to green, both of them having the same tint 
during the time that the change is going on.' 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 21 

OPTICAL DECEPTION. 

Look steadily at a carpet having figures of one colour, green, 
for example, upon a ground of another colour, suppose red, and 
you will sometimes see the whole of the green pattern as if the 
red one were obliterated ; and at other times, you will seethe whole 
of the red pattern, as if the green one were obliterated. The 
former effect takes place when the eye is steadily fixed on the green 
part, and the latter, when it is steadily fixed on the red portion. 

COLOURED SHADOW'S. 

Provide two lighted candles, and place them upon a table be- 
fore a whitewashed or light papered wall: hold before one of the 
candles a piece of coloured glass, taking care to remove to a 
greater distance the candle before which the coloured glass is not 
placed, in order to equalize the darkness of the two shadows. If 
you use a piece of green glass, one of the shadows will be green, 
and the other a fine red ; if you use blue glass, one of the shadows 
will be blue, and the other a pale yellow. 

COLOURS OF SCRATCHES. 

An extremely fine scratch on a well-polished surface, may be 
regarded as having a concave, cylindrical, or, at least, a curved 
surface, capable of reflecting light in all directions ; this is evident, 
for it is visible in all directions. Hence, a single scratch or furrow 
in a surface, may produce colours by the interference of the rays 
reflected from its opposite edges. Examine a spider's thread in 
the sunshine, and it will gleam with vivid colours. These may 
arise from a similar cause, or from the thread itself, as spun by the 
animal, consisting of several threads agglutinated together, and 
thus presenting, not a cylindrical, but a furrowed surface. 



28 SIGHT AND SOUND. 

OCULAR SPECTRA. 

One of the most curious affections of the eye is that, in virtue 
of which it sees what are called ocular spectra, or accidental 
colours. If we place a red wafer on a sheet of white paper, and, 
closing one eye, keep the other directed for some time to the 
centre of the wafer, then, if we turn the same eye to another part 
of the paper, we shall see a green wafer, the colour of which will 
continue to grow fainter and fainter, as we continue to look at it. 

By using differently coloured wafers, we obtain the following 
results: 

WAFER. SPECIMEN. 

Black ..... White. 

White Black. 

Red Bluish Green. 

Orange .... Blue. 

Yellow Indigo. 

Green Violet, with a little Red. 

Blue Orange Red. 

Indigo Orange Yellow. 

Violet Bluish Green. 

BEAUTIFUL COLOURS OF MOTHER-OF-PEARL. 

This substance, obtained from the shell of the pearl oyster, is 
much admired for the fine play of its colours. To observe them 
accurately, select a plate of regularly formed mother-of-pearl, with 
its surface nearly parallel, and grind this surface upon a hone, or 
upon a plate of glass, with the powder of slate, till the image of 
the candle, reflected from the surfaces, is of a dull reddish white 
colour, when it will glow with all the colours of the rainbow. The 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 29 

colours of mother-of-pearl may be communicated to soft black 
wax ; and to clean surfaces of lead and tin by hard pressure, or the 
blow of a hammer. Or, dissolve gum arabic, or isinglass, in water, 
and allow it to harden upon a surface of mother-of-pearl, when it 
will take a perfect impression from it, and exhibit all the colours 
in the finest manner. Or, place the isinglass between two finely- 
polished surfaces of mother-of-pearl, and you may obtain a film 
of artificial mother-of-pearl, which, when seen by the light of a 
candle, or by an aperture in the window, will shine with the 
brightest hues. 

WHITE LETTERS SEEN FURTHER THAN BLACK. 

Paint the same letters of the same size precisely on two boards, 
the one white on a black ground, and the other a black on a white 
ground ; the white letters will appear larger, and be read at a 
greater distance than the black. 

ARTIFICIAL RAINBOW. 

Observe the various colours which are reflected from the glass 
drops usually suspended from a lustre or chandelier, and you will 
witness a mimic rainbow. A rainbow may also be made by a 
garden engine, if the w 7 ater be thrown high in the air, and the 
spectator stand between it and the sun. 

FRINGE ABOUT A CANDLE. 

Provide two small pieces of plate glass, moisten two of their 
sides with water, and put them together ; then look through 
them at a candle, and you will perceive the flame surrounded 
with beautifully coloured fringes: these are the effect of moisture, 
intermixed with portions of air, and exhibiting an appearance 
similar to dew. 



30 SIGHT AND SOUND. 

THE DOUBLE-COLOURED REFLECTION. 

Provide a circular piece of coloured glass, and pierce its centre 
by means of a common awl, well moistened with oil of turpentine : 
encircle the glass with the fingers and thumb, hold it in the sun- 
shine or the strong light of a lamp, and the following beautiful 
effects will be produced. If the glass be red, the luminous spot 
in the centre will be reflected green ; if the glass be green, the 
spot will be red; if blue, orange; and if yellow, indigo. 

LUMINOUS CROSS. 

Place a lighted candle before a looking-glass, and there will 
appear a luminous cross radiating from the flame of the candle. 
This is produced by the direction of the friction by which the 
glass is polished ; the scratches placed in a horizontal direction, 
exhibiting the perpendicular part of the cross, and the vertical 
scratches the horizontal part. 

RINGS OF COLOURS ROUND A CANDLE. 

Look at a candle through a plate of glass, upon which you have 
gently breathed, or over which are scattered particles of dust, or 
any fine powder, and you will perceive the flame surrounded with 
beautiful rings of colours. By using the seed of the lycopodium, or 
by placing a drop of blood diluted with water between two pieces 
of glass, the rings of colour will be still more finely exhibited. 
Round the luminous body there will be seen a light area, 
terminating in a reddish dark margin ; this will be succeeded by 
a ring of bluish-green, and then by a red ring ; these two last 
colours succeeding each other several times when the particles 
are of uniform diameter, as are the seeds of the lycopodium, each 
of which is but the 850th part of an inch in diameter. 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 



31 



SIMPLE AND CHEAP OPERA-GLASS. 

In this new instrument, no tubes are necessary, as in the 
ordinary opera-glass ; their place being supplied by a slender 
elastic conical spring of wire, into the upper ex- 
tremity of which is inserted the eye-glass; the 
object-glass being fixed to the other extremity, 
as shown in the engraving. The two glasses 
must, of course, be kept parallel to each other 
when in use ; which is very easily effected. 

In using this opera-glass, rest the finger and 
thumb of one hand on the rim of the object-glass, 
B, whilst, with the thumb and finger of the other 
hand you hold the rim of the eye-glass, A. The 
spring tube may then be drawn out or shut up to 
very minute distances. Thus, the ordinary sliding tubes are super- 
seded ; nor is any external covering necessary, as the hand in grasp- 
ing the instrument serves the purpose. If, however, a covering be 
preferred, a piece of silk may be sewn to the spirals of the spring. 
This kind of opera-glass may be made very cheaply ; it may 
be shut into a small space for the pocket, merely by pressing 
the object-glass and eye-glass together. 




MULTIPLYING THEATRES. 

Place two pieces of looking-glass, one at each end, parallel to 
one another, and looking over, or by the edge of one of them, the 
images of any objects placed on the bottom of the box, will appear 
continued to a considerable distance. 



Or, line each of the four sides of the box with looking-glass, and 
the bottom of the box will be multiplied to an astonishing extent, 



32 SIGHT AND SOUND. 

there being no other limitation to the number of images but what 
is owing to the continued loss of light from reflection. The top 
of the box may be almost covered with thin canvas, which will 
admit sufficient light to render the exhibition very distinct. 

The above experiments may be made very entertaining, 
by placing on the bottom of the box some toy, as sentry 
soldiers, &c. ; and, if these be put in motion, by wires 
attached to them, or passing through the bottom or side of the 
box, it will afford a still more entertaining spectacle. Or the 
bottom of the box may be covered with moss, shining pebbles, 
flowers, &c. ; only, in all cases, the upright figures between the 
pieces of looking-glass should be slender, and not too numerous, 
else they will obstruct the reflected light. 

In a box with six, eight, or more sides, lined with looking-glass, 
as above, the different objects in it will be multiplied to an almost 
indefinite extent. 

APPARATUS FOR WRITING IN THE DARK. 

In this ingenious contrivance, A is a frame of wood, into the 
back and front of which are inserted two thin boards, the front 
one, B, reaching about half the height of 
the frame, and the back one being mova- 
ble, by sliding in grooves, for better 
fixing the paper to be written on, C, to 
a roller at top, with a handle and ratchet 
working into a spring. 

To use the apparatus, the paper is to be 
fixed on the roller, and a strip of lead, or 
other weight, suspended from the bottom of the paper, to keep it 
smooth : then, by resting the right hand on the edge of the board 




SIGHT AND SOUND. 



33 



B, and turning, with the left hand, the ratchet, the distance of 
the lines may be regulated by the number of clicks caused by 
the spring on the ratchet. D, is a foot to support the apparatus, 
which, however, should be light enough to be held in the hand 
as a slate. 

PORTABLE MICROSCOPE. 

This cheap and useful instrument consists of a handle of hard 
wood, a, which is screwed into a brass piece, d, having, at its top, 
a ring, with screws on back and front, into 
which are to be screwed two cells with 
lenses of different foci. There is also a pro- 
jecting piece formed on the side of the brass 
piece, d, in which is a hole to receive the 
screwed end of a cylindrical rod of brass, c. 
Upon this rod, a springing slit socket, e, 
slides backwards and forwards, and is also 
capable of being turned round. This socket 
has affixed to it, on one side, a projecting 
part, with a screwed cavity in it, to receive a short screwed tube, 
with a small hole in its centre, made to fit the steel stem of the 
spring forceps ; a corresponding hole being made at the bottom of 
the screwed cavity, where is lodged a piece of perforated cork ; 
which, being pressed upon by the action of the screw, closes 
upon the steel stem of the forceps, and steadies them, and the 
objects held in them. The stem of the forceps being removed from 
its place in the short tube; the handles and lenses, and the rod, 
c, and the sliding socket upon it, being unscrewed from its place 
in the handle ; they can all three be packed in a black paper 
case, which is only three and a half inches long, one inch broad, 
and half an inch thick. 




34 SIGHT AND SOUND. 

This microscope possesses three different magnifying powers, 
namely, those of two lenses separately, and the two in combination. 

Microscopes of a still simpler nature are small globules of glass, 
formed by smelting the ends of fine threads of glass in the flame 
of a candle ; and small globular microscopes of great magnifying 
power, made of hollow glass about the size of a small walnut, 
may be purchased very cheaply at the opticians'. 

THE PHENAKISTICOFE, OR STOBOSCOPE. 

This amusing instrument consists of a turning wheel, upon 
which figures are seen to walk, jump, pump w T ater, &c. The disc 
or wheel should be of stout card-board, upon which should be 
painted, towards the edge, figures in eight or ten postures. Thus, 
if it is wished to represent a man bowing, the first position is a 
man standing upright; in the second, his body has a slight inclina- 
tion ; in the third, still more ; and so on, to the sixth position, w r here 
the body is most bent : the four following, represent the figure 
recovering its erect posture, so that the fifth and seventh, the 
fourth and eighth, the third and ninth, and second and tenth figures, 
have the same posture. Between each of the figures on the 
wheel, should be a slit, three-fourths of an inch long, and one- 
fourth of an inch wide, in a direction parallel with the radii of 
the wheel, and extending to an equal distance from the centre. 

To work this instrument, place the figured side of the wheel 
before a looking-glass, and cause it to revolve upon its centre ; then 
look through the slits or apertures, and you may observe, in the 
glass, the figures bowing continually, and with a rapidity pro- 
portionate to the rate at which the wheel turns. The illusion de- 
pends on the circumstance, that the wheel between each aperture 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 35 

is covered, while the figure goes further. That the deception 
may be complete, it is necessary that every part of the figures 
not bowing shall be at an equal distance from the centre of the 
wheel, and from the slits ; also that the figures possess equal 
thickness and colour. 

TO LOOK AT THE SUN WITHOUT INJURY. 

Provide a wine-glass filled with plain water, which will keep 
off the heat so effectually, that the brightest sun may be viewed 
some time through it without any inconvenience. If a little 
black ink be added to the water, the image of the sun will appear 
through it, as white as snow ; and when the ink is still more 
diluted, the sun will be of a purple hue. 

BRILLIANT WATER MIRROR. 

Nearly fill a glass tumbler with water, and hold it, with your 
back to the window, above the level of the 
eye, as in the engraving. Then look obliquely 
as in the direction E, a, c, and you will see 
the whole surface shining like burnished 
silver, with a strong metallic reflection ; and 
any object, as a spoon, A C B, immersed 
in the water, will have its immersed part 
C B, reflected on the surface, as in a mirror, 
but with a brilliancy far surpassing that 
which can be obtained from quicksilver, or 
from the most highly-polished metals. 

OPTICAL ILLUSION UNDER WATER. 

Procure a large gallipot ; place on the bottom, next the side 
furthest from you, a sixpence, and next to it, but towards the centre, 




36 SIGHT AND SOUND. 

a shilling ; move to such a distance as will render the coins in- 
visible ; then let another person pour water gently in, and as it 
rises in the gallipot, it will cause both the sixpence and shilling 
to be seen, without your approaching nearer to the gallipot, or 
moving it towards you. 

THE MAGIC WHEELS. 

Cut out two card-board cog-wheels of equal size ; place them 
upon a pin, and whirl them round with equal velocity in opposite 
directions ; when, instead of producing a hazy tint, as one wheel 
would do, or as the two would if revolving in the same direction, 
there will be an extraordinary appearance of a fixed wheel. If 
the cogs be cut slantwise on both wheels, the spectral wheel, as it 
may be called, will exhibit slanting cogs ; but if one of the wheels 
be turned, so that the cogs shall point in opposite directions, then 
the spectral wheel will have straight cogs. If wheels with radii, 
or arms, be viewed when moving, the deception will be similar; 
and however fast the wheels may move, provided it be with equal 
velocity, the magic of a fixed wheel will be presented. 

Or, cut a card-board wheel with a certain number of teeth or 
cogs at its edge ; a little nearer the centre, cut a series of apertures 
resembling the cogs in arrangement, but not to the same number ; 
and still nearer the centre cut another series of apertures, different 
in number, and varying from the former. Fix this wheel upon 
another, with its face held two or three yards from an illuminated 
mirror ; spin it round, the cogs will disappear, and a greyish belt, 
three inches broad, will become visible; but, on looking at the glass 
through the moving wheel, appearances will entirely change ; 
one row of cogs, or apertures, will appear fixed, as if the wheel 
were not moving, whilst the other two will appear as if in motion ; 
and, by shifting the eye, other and new effects appear. 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 37 

These amusing deceptions were first experimented by Mr. 
Faraday. The simple apparatus for their exhibition may be 
purchased, for a trifling sum, of any respectable optician. 

ACOUSTIC RAINBOW. 

A sounding-plate, made of brass, nine inches long, and half a 
line in thickness, covered with a layer of water, may be employed 
to produce a rainbow in a chamber which admits the sun. On 
drawing a violin bow strongly across the plate, so as to produce 
the greatest possible intensity of tone, numerous drops of water fly 
perpendicularly and laterally upwards. The size of the drops is 
smaller as the tone is higher. The inner and outer rainbows are 
very beautifully seen in these ascending and descending drops, when 
the artificial shower is held opposite to the sun. When the eyes 
are close to the falling drops, each eye sees its appropriate rainbow ; 
and four rainbows are perceived at the same time, particularly if 
the floor of the room is of a dark colour. The experimentsucceeds 
best, if, when a finger is placed under the middle of the plate, and 
both of the angular points at one side are supported, the tone is 
produced at a point of the opposite side, a fourth of its length from 
one of its angles. An abundant shower of drops is thus obtained. 

TRANSMISSION OF SOUND. 

Suspend any sonorous body, as a bell, a glass, a silver spoon, 
or a tuning-fork, from a double thread, and put with the finger 
the extremities of the thread, one in each ear ; if the body be 
then struck, the apparent loudness and depth of the sound will 
be surprising. 

Again, if you shut your ears altogether, you will yet feel very 



38 SIGHT AND SOUND. 

sensible of the impression of any sound conveyed through the 
mouth, the teeth, or the head: if you put one end of a small stiek 
or rod in the mouth, and touch with the other extremity a watch 
lying on the table, the beatings will become quite audible, though 
the ears be actually shut. So, also, if a log of wood be scratched 
at one end with a pin, a person who applies his ear to the other 
end will hear the sound distinctly. 

Fogs and falling rain, but especially snow, powerfully obstruct 
the free propagation of sound; and the same effect is produced by 
a coating of fresh- fallen snow on the ground, though when glazed 
and hardened at the surface by freezing, it has no such influence. 

Over water, or a surface of ice, sound is propagated with re- 
markable clearness and strength. Dr. Hutton relates, that on a 
quiet part of the Thames, near Chelsea, he could hear a person 
distinctly at 140 feet distance, while on the land the same could 
only be heard at 76 feet. Lieutenant Forster, in the third Polar 
expedition of Captain Parry, held a conversation with a man 
across the harbour of Port Bowen, a distance of 6696 feet, or 
about a mile and a quarter. This, however remarkable, falls 
short of what is related by Dr. Young, on the authority of the 
Rev. W. Derham, viz. that, at Gibraltar, the voice has been heard 
ten miles, perhaps, across the strait. 

The cannonade of a sea-fight between the English and Dutch, 
in 1672, was heard across England as far as Shrewsbury, and 
even in Wales, a distance of upwards of 200 miles from the scene 
of action. 

At Carisbrook Castle, in the Isle of Wight, is a well 210 feet 
in depth, and twelve feet in diameter, into which if a pin be 
dropped, it will be distinctly heard to strike the water. The 
interior is lined with very smooth masonry. 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 39 

PROGRESS OF SOUND. 

A stretched string, as that of a piano-forte, may be made to 
vibrate not only from end to end, but in aliquot parts, the portion s 
being separated by points of rest which interrupted the progress 
of the sound. This kind of effect may be shown by shaking a 
long piece of cane in the air, when there will be one, two, or 
three points of rest, according to the mode of vibrating it. 

An elastic surface has, likewise, some parts in motion and 
others at rest ; and these parts may be made visibly distinct, by 
strewing pieces of bristle over them upon the sounding-board of 
an instrument. 

When a bow is drawn across the strings of a violin, the im- 
pulses produced may be rendered evident by fixing a small steel 
bead upon the bow ; when looked at by light or in sunshine, the 
bead will seem to form a series of dots during the passage of 
the bow. 

SOUND TURNING CORNERS. 

Take a common tuning-fork, strike it, and hold it, (when set in 
vibration,) about three or four inches from the ear, with the flat 
side towards it, when the sound will be distinctly heard ; let a strip 
of card, somewhat longer than the flat of the tuning-fork, be inter- 
posed at about half an inch from the fork, and the sound will be 
almost entirely intercepted by it ; and, if the card be alternately 
removed and replaced in pretty quick succession, alternations of 
sound and silence will be produced ; proving that sound is by no 
means propagated with so much intensity round the edge of the card, 
as straight forward. Indeed, to be convinced of this fact, you have 
only to listen to the sound of a carriage turning a corner from the 
street in which you happen to be, into an adjoining one. Even 



40 SIGHT AND SOUND. 

where there is no obstacle in the way, sounds are by no means 
equally audible in all directions from the sounding body ; as you 
may ascertain, by holding a vibrating tuning-fork or pitch-pipe 
near your ear, and turning it quickly on its axis. 

TO TELL THE DISTANCE OF THUNDER. 

Count, by means of a watch, the number of seconds that elapse 
between seeing the flash of lightning and hearing the report of the 
thunder; allow somewhat more than five seconds for a mile, and 
the distance may be ascertained. Thus, say the number of seconds is 

5)20 

4 miles distant; 

or the distance may be estimated by remarking the number of 
beats of the pulse in the above interval; provided, of course, that 
we know the rate at which the pulse beats in a certain time. In a 
French work, it is stated that if the pulse beat six times, the 
distance of the thunder will be about 30,000 feet, or five miles 
and a half; thus reckoning 5000 feet for each pulsation. 

In a violent thunder-storm, when the sound instantly succeeds 
the flash, the persons who witness the circumstance are in some 
danger ; when the interval is a quarter of a minute, they are secure. 

HEARING BY THE TOUCH. 

If a deaf person merely place the tips of his finger-nails on the 
window-shutters or door of a room in which instruments are 
playing, he may enjoy their concert of harmony. 

CONVERSATION FOR THE DEAF. 

If two persons stop their ears closely, they may converse with 
each other by holding a long stick between their teeth, or 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 41 

by resting their teeth against them. The person who speaks may- 
rest the stick against his throat or his breast ; or he may rest 
the stick, which he holds in his teeth, against a glass tumbler 
or china basin into which the other speaks. The sound may 
also be heard when a thread is held between the teeth by both 
persons, so as to be somewhat stretched. 

GLASS BROKEN BY THE VOICE. 

On vibrating bodies, which present a large surface, the effects 
of sounds are very surprising. Persons with a clear and power- 
ful voice have been known to break a drinking-giass, by singing 
the proper fundamental note of their voice close to it. Looking- 
glasses are also said to have been broken by music, the vibrations 
of the atoms of the glass being so great as to strain them beyond 
the limits of their cohesion. 

FIGURES PRODUCED BY SOUND. 

Stretch a sheet of wet paper over the mouth of a glass tumbler, 
which has a footstalk, and glue or paste the paper at the edges. 
When the paper is dry, strew dry sand thinly upon its surface. 
Place the tumbler on a table, and hold immediately above it, and 
parallel to the paper, a plate of glass, which you also strew with 
sand, having previously rubbed the edges smooth with emery 
powder. Draw a violin bow along any part of the edges, and as 
the sand upon the glass is made to vibrate, it will form various 
figures, which will be accurately imitated by the sand upon the 
paper ; or, if a violin or flute be played within a few inches of 
the paper, they will cause the sand upon its surface to form 
regular lines and figures. 



42 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 



TRANSMITTED VIBRATION. 



Provide a long, flat glass ruler or rod, as in the engraving, and 
cement it with mastic to the edge of a drinking-glass fixed into a 
wooden stand; support the other end of the rod very lightly on a 

==p ? piece of cork, and strew 

m 



its upper surface with 
LB^j sand ; set the glass in vi- 
bration by a bow, at a 



point opposite where the rod meets it, and the motions will be 
communicated to the rod without any change in their direction. 
If the apparatus be inverted, and sand be strewed on the under 
side of the rod, the figures will be seen to correspond with those 
produced on the upper surface. 

DOUBLE VIBRATION. 

Provide two discs of metal or glass, precisely of the same di- 
mensions, and a glass or metal rod ; cement the two discs at their 
centres to the two ends of the rod, as in 
the engraving, and strew their upper sur- 
faces with sand. Cause one of the discs, 
viz. the upper one, to vibrate by a bow, 
and its vibration will be exactly imitated 
by the lower disc, and the sand strewed 
over both will arrange itself in precisely 
the same forms on both discs. But if, 
separately, they do not agree in their tones, the figures on them 
will not correspond. 

CHAMPAGNE AND SOUND. 

Pour sparkling champagne into a glass until it is half full, 
when the glass will lose its power of ringing by a stroke upon its 




SIGHT AND SOUND. 43 

edges, and will emit only a disagreeable and puffy sound. Nor 
will the glass ring while the wine is brisk, and filled with air- 
bubbles ; but, as the effervescence subsides, the sound will be- 
come clearer and clearer, and when the air bubbles have entirely 
disappeared, the glass will ring as usual. If a crumb of bread 
be thrown into the champagne, and effervescence be re-pro- 
duced, the glass will again cease to ring. The same experiment 
will also succeed with soda-water, ginger wine, or any other 
effervescing liquid. 

MUSIC FROM PALISADES. 

If a line of broad palisades, set edgewise in a line directed from 
the ear, and at even distances from each other, be struck at the 
end nearest the auditor, they will reflect the sound of the blow, 
and produce a succession of echoes: these, from the equal distance 
of the .palisades, will reach the ear at equal intervals of time, 
and will, therefore, produce the effect of a number of impulses 
originating in one point. Thus, a musical note will be heard. 

THEORY OF THE JEW'S HARP. 

If you cause the tongue of this little instrument to vibrate, it 
will produce a very low sound; but, if you place it before a cavity, 
(as the mouth,) containing a column of air, which vibrates much 
faster, but in the proportion of any simple multiple, it will then 
produce other higher sounds, dependent upon the reciprocation 
of that portion of the air. Now, the bulk of air in the mouth 
can be altered in its form, size, and other circumstances, so as to 
produce by reciprocation, many different sounds ; and these are 
the sounds belonging to the Jew's Harp. 



44 SIGHT AND SOUND. 

A proof of this fact has been given by Mr. Eulenstein, who 
fitted into a long metallic tube a piston, which, being moved, 
could be made to lengthen or shorten the efficient column of air 
within at pleasure. A Jew's Harp was then so fixed that it 
could be made to vibrate before the mouth of the tube, and it was 
found that the column of air produced a series of sounds, accord- 
ing as it was lengthened or shortened ; a sound being produced 
whenever the length of the column was such that its vibrations 
were a multiple of those of the Jew's Harp. 

MUSIC OF THE SNAIL. 

Place a garden-snail upon a pane of glass, and in drawing 
itself along, it will frequently produce sounds similar to those of 
musical glasses. 

TO TUNE A GUITAR WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE OF THE EAR. 

Make one string to sound, and its vibrations will, with much 
force, be transferred to the next string: this transference may be 
seen by placing a saddle of paper (like an inverted a) upon the 
string, at first in a state of rest. When this string hears the 
other, the saddle will be shaken, or fall off; when both strings 
are in harmony, the paper will be very little, or not at all, shaken. 

MUSIC FROM GLASS OR METAL RODS. 

Provide a straight rod of glass or metal ; strike it at the end in 
the direction of its length, or rub it lengthwise with a moistened 
finger, and it will yield a musical sound, which, unless its length be 
very great, will be of an extremely acute pitch ; much more so 
than in the case of a column of air of the same length, as in a 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 45 

flute. The reason of this is the greater velocity with which 
sound is propagated in solids than in the air. If the rod be metal, 
the friction will be found to succeed best when made with a bit 
of cloth, sprinkled with powdered resin; or, if of glass, the cloth 
or the finger may be moistened and touched with some very fine 
sand or pumice powder. 

Generally speaking, a fiddle-bow, well resined, is the readiest 
and most convenient means of setting solid bodies in vibration. 
To bring out their gravest or fundamental tones, the bow must 
be pressed hard and drawn slowly ; but, for the higher harmo- 
nies, a short, swift stroke, with light pressure, is most proper. 

THE TUNING-FORK A FLUTE-PLAYER. 

Take a common tuning-fork, and on one of its branches fasten 
with sealing-wax a circular piece of card, of the size of a small 

wafer, or sufficient nearly 
2^ to cover the aperture of a 
pipe, as the sliding of the 
upper end of a flute with the mouth stopped : it may 
II be tuned in unison with the loaded tuning-fork (a 

111!! J C fork), by means of the moveable stopper or card, 

or the fork may be loaded till the unison is perfect. Then set 
the fork in vibration by a blow on the unloaded branch, and hold 
the card closely over the mouth of the pipe, as in the engraving, 
when a note of surprising clearness and strength will be heard. 
Indeed, a flute may be made to * speak" perfectly well, by 
holding close to the opening a vibrating tuning-fork, while 
the fingering proper to the note of the fork is at the same time 
performed. 




46 SIGHT AND SOUND. 

MUSICAL BOTTLES. 

Provide two glass bottles, and tune them by pouring water into 
them, so that each corresponds to the sound of a different tuning- 
fork. Then apply both tuning-forks to the mouth of each bottle 
alternately, when that sound only will be heard, in each case, 
which is reciprocated by the unisonant bottle, or, in other words, 
by that bottle which contains a column of air susceptible of vi- 
brating in unison with the fork. 

THEORY OF WHISPERING. 

Apartments of a circular or elliptical form are best calculated 
for the exhibition of this phenomenon. If a person stand near 
the wall, with his face turned to it, and whisper a few words, they 
may be more distinctly heard at nearly the opposite side of the 
apartment, than if the listener was situated nearer to the speaker. 

THEORY OF THE VOICE. 

Provide a species of whistle, common as a child's toy or a 
sportsman's call, in the form of a hollow cylinder, about three- 
fourths of an inch in diameter, closed at both ends by flat circular 
plates, with holes in their centres. Hold this toy between the 
teeth and lips : blow through it, and you may produce sounds 
varying in pitch with the force with which you blow. If the air 
be cautiously graduated, all the sounds within the compass of a 
double octave may be produced from it; and, if great precaution 
be taken in the management of the wind, tones even yet graver 
may be brought out. This simple instrument or toy, has, indeed, 
the greatest resemblance to the larynx, which is the organ of voice. 

A speaking-machine has been invented in Germany, with which 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 47 

have been distinctly pronounced the words, mamma, papa, mother, 
father, summer. This instrument consists of a pair of bellows, 
to which is adapted a tube terminating in a bell, the aperture of 
which is regulated by the hand, so as to produce the articulate 
sounds. 

SOUND ALONG A WALL. 

Whisper along the bare wall of an apartment, and you will be 
heard much further than in the middle of the room ; for the trough 
or angle between the wall and the floor, forms two sides of a square 
pipe which conveys the sound. 

SOUNDS MORE AUDIBLE BY NIGHT THAN BY DAY. 

The experiment with the glass of champagne (page 40) has 
been employed by Humboldt, in explanation of the greater 
audibility of distant sounds by night than by day. This he attri- 
butes to the uniformity of temperature in the atmosphere by night, 
when currents of air no longer rise and disturb its equilibrium ; 
as the air-bubbles in the champagne interfere with the vibration 
within the glass. Again, the universal and dead silence generally 
prevalent at night, renders our auditory nerves sensible to sounds 
which would otherwise escape them, and which are inaudible 
among the continual hum of noises which is always going on in 
the day time. 

MUSICAL ECHO. 

If a noise be made in a narrow passage, or apartment of 
regular form, the echoes will be repeated at equal very small 
intervals, and will always impress the ear with a musical note. 
This is, doubtless, one of the means which blind persons have of 
judging of the size and shape of any room they happen to be in. 



48 SIGHT AND SOUND. 

VENTRILOQUISM. 

The main secret of this surprising art simply consists in first 
making a strong and deep inspiration, by which a considerable 
quantity of air is introduced into the lungs, to be afterwards acted 
upon by the flexible powers of the larynx, or cavity situated behind 
the tongue, and the trachea, or windpipe : thus prepared, the 
expiration should be slow and gradual. Any person, by practice, 
can, therefore, obtain more or less expertness in this exercise ; 
in which, though not apparently, the voice is still modified by 
the mouth and tongue ; and it is in the concealment of this aid, 
that much of the perfection of ventriloquism lies. 

But the distinctive character of ventriloquism consists in its 
imitations being performed by the voice seeming to come from the 
stomach : hence its name, from venter, the stomach, and loquor, 
to speak. Although the voice does not actually come from that 
region, in order to enable the ventriloquist to utter sounds from 
the larynx without moving the muscles of his face, he strengthens 
them by a powerful action of the abdominal muscles. Hence, he 
speaks by means of his stomach ; although the throat is the real 
source from whence the sound proceeds. It should, however, be 
added, that this speaking distinctly, without any movement of the 
lips at all, is the highest perfection of ventriloquism, and has but 
rarely been attained. Thus, MM. St. Gille and Louis Brabant, 
two celebrated French ventriloquists, appeared to be absolutely 
mute while exercising their art, and no change in their counten- 
ances could be discovered. 

It has lately been shown, that some ventriloquists have acquired 
by practice the power of exercising the veil of the palate in such a 
manner, that, by raising or depressing it, they dilate or contract 
the inner nostrils. If they are closely contracted, the sound pro- 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 49 

duced is weak, dull, and seems to be more or less distant ; if, on 
the contrary, these cavities are widely dilated, the sound will be 
strengthened, the voice become loud, and apparently close to us. 

Another of the secrets of ventriloquism, is the uncertainty with 
respect to the direction of sounds. Thus, if we place a man and a 
child in the same angle of uncertainty, and the man speaks with 
the accent of a child, without any corresponding motion in hia 
mouth or face, we shall necessarily believe that the voice comes 
from the child. In this case, the belief is so strengthened by the 
imagination ; for if we were directed to a statue, as the source 
from which we were to expect sounds to issue, we should still be 
deceived, and refer the sounds to the lifeless stone or marble* 
This illusion will be greatly assisted by the voice being totally 
different in tone and character from that of the man from whom 
it really comes. Thus, we see how easy is the deception when 
the sounds are required to proceed from any given object, and 
are such as they actually yield. 

The ventriloquists of our time, as M. Alexander and M. 
Fitz-James, have carried their art still further. They have not 
only spoken by the muscles of the throat and the abdomen, 
without moving those of the face, but have so far overcome the 
uncertainty of sound, as to become acquainted with modifications 
of distance, obstruction, and other causes, so to imitate them with 
the greatest accuracy. Thus, each of these artists has succeeded 
in carrying on a dialogue ; and each, in his own single person and 
with his own single voice, has represented a scene apparently 
with several actors. These ventriloquists have likewise posses- 
sed such power over their faces and figures, that, aided by rapid 
changes of dress, their personal identity has scarcely been re- 
cognised among the range of personations. 

5 



50 



SIGHT AND SOUND. 



Vocal imitations are much less striking and ingenious than the 
feats of ventriloquism. Extraordinary varieties of voice may be 
produced, by speaking with a more acute or grave pitch than 
usual, and by different contractions of the mouth. Thus may be 
imitated the grinding of cutlery on a wheel, the sawing of wood, 
the frying of a pancake, the uncorking of a bottle, and the 
gurgling noise in emptying its contents. 





JLaOHIH ^SSf® SUSE^T?* 



FLASHES OF LIGHT UPON REVOLVING WHEELS. 



^€ 




^Sv^rovide a circle of card -board, six inches in dia- 
meter; divide it into sixteen parts, and paint 
them alternately red and black. Provide a 
second circle or disc of the same size, and 
paint on it, in large characters, the words " At 
rest," on a white ground. Connect both discs 
with the simple apparatus for causing them to turn round, used 
in the construction of a toy windmill. Next fill a basin with 
water, and provide a few small pieces of phosphuret of lime : 
darken the room, hold the discs over the basin, and turn them 
round ; let the phosphuret of lime be put into the water, and bubbles 
of light will rise to its surface. If they come up slowly, both discs 
will appear stationary during their turning round ; but when the 
bubbles come up quickly, the black and red spaces will exhibit a 
dancing motion, and sometimes two black spaces will seem joined 



54 LIGHT AND HEAT. 

into one, to the exclusion of the intervening red, and vice versa ; 
the words on the second disc will also cross each other in various 
directions, when the flashes of light interfere ; and, in both cases> 
confusion will be excited by an impression being made on the 
retina, before preceding impressions have departed. 

DECOMPOSITION OF LIGHT. 

Sir Isaac Newton first divided a white ray of light, and found 
it to consist of an assemblage of coloured rays, which formed an 
image upon a wall, and in which were displayed the following 
colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Sir 
Isaac then showed that these seven colours, when again put to- 
gether or combined, recomposed white light. This may be 
proved by painting a card wheel in circles with the above colours, 
and whirling it rapidly upon a pin, when it will appear white. 

Light may also be decomposed by the following beautiful expe- 
riment : Form a tube about ten inches long and one inch in dia- 
meter, of paper, one side of which is of a bright blue colour. This 
may be done by wrapping the paper once round a cylinder of 
wood, and securing the edges of the paper with paste. The co- 
loured side of the paper must be the interior of the tube. Apply 
this tube to one eye, the other being closed, and on looking at 
the ceiling, a circular orange spot will be seen, which is the re- 
sult of decomposition: the white light from the ceiling enters the 
tube, the blue is retained, and the red and yellow rays enter the 
eye, and produce the impression of orange. 

SOLAR REFRACTION. 

The theory of solar refraction may be beautifully illustrated as 
follows: Put a shilling into a basin, and pour some water on it, 
when the silver will be refracted through the medium : and, if the 



LIGHT AND HEAT. 55 

vessel be filled, you may withdraw to any distance from which 
the surface of the water will be visible, and, by the refraction 
from it, you can still observe the shilling. 

INCANTATIONS. 

Dissolve crystals of nitrate of copper in spirit of wine ; light 
the solution, and it will burn with a beautiful emerald-green 
flame : pieces of sponge soaked in this spirit, lighted and sus- 
pended by fine wires, produce the lambent green flames now so 
common in incantation scenes : strips of flannel saturated with it, 
and applied round copper swords, tridents, &c, produce, when 
lighted, the flaming swords and fire-forks, brandished by the 
demons in such scenes: indeed, the chief consumption of nitrate 
of copper is for these purposes. 

TO IMITATE THE LIGHT OF THE SEA. 

It is well known, that on dark, stormy nights, the sea emits a 
brilliant light, the effect of which may be thus imitated. Scrape 
off four drams of the substance of putrefying fish, as whiting, 
herring, or mackerel, and put it into a white glass bottle, con- 
taining two ounces of sea-water, or of pure water with two drams 
of common salt dissolved in it; set the bottle in a dark place, 
and in three days a ring of light will be seen on the surface of 
the liquid, and the whole, if shaken, will become luminous, and 
continue so for some time. If it be set in a warm place, the 
light will be brighter ; if the liquid be frozen, the light will dis- 
appear, but will re-appear on being thawed. 

If more salt be added to the solution, the light will disappear, 
but instantly burst forth from absolute darkness by dilution with 
water. Lime-water, common water, beer, acids, even very dilute 



56 LIGHT AND HEAT. 

alkaline leys, as pearl-ash or soda and water, will permanently 
extinguish this spontaneous light. 

INSTANTANEOUS LIGHTS. 

The oxygenated, or chlorate matches, are first dipped in 
melted sulphur, and then tipped with a paste made of chlorate of 
potass, sulphur, and sugar, mixed with gum-water, and coloured 
with vermilion: frankincense and camphor are sometimes mixed 
with the composition, and the wood of the match is pencil-cedar, 
so that a fragrant odour is diffused from the matches in burning. 
To obtain light, a match is very lightly dipped in a bottle con- 
taining a little asbestos soaked in oil of vitriol. 

Lucifer s consist of chips of wood tipped with a paste of chlorate 
of potass mixed with sulphuret of antimony, starch, and gum- 
water: when a match is pinched between the folds of glass-paper, 
and suddenly drawn out, a light is instantly obtained. 

Prometheans consist of small rolls of waxed paper, in one end 
of which is a minute quantity of vitriol, in a glass bulb, sealed 
up, and surrounded with chlorate of potass : when the end thus 
prepared is pressed so as to break the bulb, the vitriol comes in 
contact with the composition, and produces light instantly. 

For cigar-smokers, Prometheans are made with touch-paper ; 
this ignites from the composition, and glows without flame, like 
a slow match ; and as the wind will not extinguish it, a dry cigar 
may be readily lighted at it. 

Lucifers and Prometheans must be used with caution, and 
should never be carelessly left about : by letting them fall upon a 
sanded floor, and being accidentally trod upon, they may take 
fire, and thus do great mischief. 



LIGHT AND HEAT. 57 

TO COLOUR THE FLAME OF A CANDLE. 

Take a piece of packthread, or cotton thread, boil it in clean 
water to free it from saline particles, and dry it; wet one end, and 
take upon it a little of either of the salts hereafter named, in fine 
powder, or strong solution. Then dip the wetted end of the 
thread into the cup of a burning wax candle, and apply it to the 
exterior of the flame, not quite touching the luminous part, but 
so as to be immersed in the cone of invisible but intensely heated 
air which envelopes it. Immediately, an irregular sputtering 
combustion of the wax on the thread will take place, and the in- 
visible cone of heat will be rendered luminous, with a peculiarly 
coloured light, according to the salt employed. 

Thus, common salt will give a bright yellow; muriate of 
potass will give a beautiful pale violet; muriate of lime will give 
a brick red ; muriate of strontia will give a magnificent crimson; 
muriate of lithia will give a red; muriate of baryta will give a 
fine pale apple green ; muriate of copper will give a beautiful 
bluish green ; and green copperas will give a white light. 

TO DIVIDE THE FLAME OF A CANDLE. 

Provide about a foot square of brass or iron wire gauze, of the 
fineness of thirty meshes to the square inch : lower the gauze 
upon the flame of a wax candle, which will not rise through the 
meshes, but in its place will be the inflammable smoke of the 
flame ; apply to this a piece of lighted paper, and it will be kin- 
dled, and the candle will burn with flame above and beneath the 
gauze. In this case, the gauze so cools the flame, as to extin- 
guish it ; and upon this principle is constructed the Davy Safety 
Lamp, in which the light is surrounded with wire-gauze. 



58 LIGHT AND HEAT. 

To vary this experiment, place a chip of camphor in the centre 
of a piece of wire-gauze about a foot square, and hold it over the 
flame of a candle or lamp; when the vapour of the camphor will 
burn brightly upon the lower surface of the gauze, but cannot 
rise through it in consequence of its cooling power. Thus, the 
camphor lies upon the gauze in an uninflamed state, though it is 
sufficiently heated to yield inflammable vapour to feed a flame 
beneath. 

CANE WieK LAMP. 

Cut a piece of cane about one inch long : set it upright in 
spirit of wine, with a small portion just above the surface : the 
spirit will then rise through the tube of the cane, which being 
lighted, will burn as a wick. 

CAMPHOR AND PLATINUM LAMP. 

Place a small piece of camphor, or a few fragments, upon the 
bottom of a glass, and lay upon the camphor a piece of coiled or 
pressed up platinum wire, heated in the flame of a lamp ; when 
the platinum will glow brilliantly as long as any camphor re- 
mains, and frequently light up into flame. 



PLATINUM AND ETHER LAMP. 

Put into a small hyacinth-glass a teaspoonful of 
ether, and suspend in it, by wire, a coil of fine pla- 
tinum wire, first heated in the flame of a spirit-lamp ; 
the wire will then glow with a red heat, and some 
of it may become white hot ; in the latter case, flame 
will be produced by the ether burning. 




LIGHT AND HEAT. 59 



FLOATING LIGHT. 



Cut a chip of camphor; light it, and set it on a basin of water, 
when it will continue to burn and float, until it is consumed. 

SUBSTITUTE FOR A WAX TAPER. 

Steep a loosely twisted cotton skein in a solution of nitre ; dry 
it, and it will readily kindle by the sparks produced from the flint 
and steel. If, however, the cotton be further prepared by coating 
portions of it, at regular intervals, alternately with sulphur and 
white w 7 ax, and the sparks be struck upon the sulphur, it will 
readily kindle, and as readily light the wax ; and the flame will 
endure long enough for sealing a letter. 

PHOSPHORESCENT FISH. 

Place a very stale fish in a dark room, and it will give out a 
strong light, because of the numerous animalculse, whose growth 
the putrefaction has promoted. 

THE LUMINOUS SPECTRE. 

Phosphorus in its pure state should be very cautiously han* 
died ; as, unless used very moderately, it will burn the skin. 
By adding to it, however, six parts of olive oil, it may be employed 
with perfect safety. If every part of the face, except the eyes 
and mouth, which should be kept shut while applying it, be 
anointed with this mixture, it will give the party a most frightful 
appearance in the dark. The eyes and mouth will seem black, 
and all the other parts of the face will appear lighted with a 
sickly, pale-bluish flame. 



60 LIGHT AND HEAT. 

LIGHT, A PAINTER. 

Strain a piece of paper or linen upon a wooden frame, and 
sponge it over with a solution of nitrate of silver in water; place 
it behind a painting upon glass, or a stained window-pane, and 
the light, traversing the painting or figures, will produce a copy 
of it upon the prepared paper or linen; those parts in which the 
rays were least intercepted being the shadows of the picture. 

EFFECT OF LIGHT UPON CRYSTALLIZATION. 

Place a solution of nitre in a small basin of water, in a room 
which has the light admitted only through a small hole in the 
window-shutter ; crystals will then form most abundantly upon 
the side of the basin exposed to the aperture through which the 
light enters; and often the whole mass of crystals will turn 
towards it. This peculiar effect may also be seen in the crystals 
in camphor glasses in druggists' widows, which are always most 
copious upon the side exposed to the light. 

EFFECT OF LIGHT ON PLANTS. 

Shut a plant up in a room into which light is only admitted 
through a small hole in the window-shutter, and set the plant out 
of the direction of this light; it will, in a short time, turn itself, 
and even grow downwards, that it may expose its leaves to the light. 

If plants be kept in darkness, they will soon become bleached ; 
then, if they be exposed to the sun for three, four, or five hours, 
the leaves and stalks will become as intensely green as if the 
plants had been reared in the sun. Again, if a lighted lamp be 
introduced into a dark room, wherein a plant has been shut up and 



LIGHT AND HEAT. 61 

bleached, it will become green, and direct itself towards the lamp. 
If such a plant be removed from the room, exposed for some time 
to the sun, and then returned to darkness, it will no longer sup- 
port the privation of light, but will fade and perish. 

INSTANTANEOUS LIGHT UPON ICE. 

Throw upon ice a small piece of potassium, and it will burst 
into flame. In one experim ent, the operator pressed the potassium 
on the ice with a penknife, when the whole length of the ice be- 
came ignited. 

WHITE LIGHT FROM ZINC. 

As a substance for light, zinc is far superior to any of the 
metals. The light which it yields on burning is as bright as that 
of the sun, and as white, so that the eye can scarcely endure it; 
and the effect is much increased by the great quantity of silvery 
smoke which reflects the fire, and thus widely increases the sphere 
of illumination. Zinc may be used in thin sheets, or in filings. 

BRILLIANT LIGHT FROM TWO METALS. 

Wrap a small piece of platinum in a piece of tin-foil of the 
same size, and expose them upon charcoal to the action of the 
blow pipe; when the union of the two metals will be accompanied 
by a rapid whirling, and by a remarkably brilliant light. If the 
globule thus melted be allowed to drop into a basin of water, it will 
remain for some time red hot at the bottom of it 

BRILLIANT LIGHT FROM STEEL. 

Pour into a watch-glass a little sulphuret of carbon, and light 
it; hold in the flame a brush of steel-wire, and it will burn beauti- 
fully. A watch-spring may also be burnt in it. 



62 LIGHT AND HEAT. 

LIGHTED r TIN. 

Place upon a piece of tinfoil a few powdered crystals of nitrate 
of copper ; moisten it with water ; fold up the foil gently, and 
wrap it in paper so as to keep out the air : lay it upon a plate, and 
the tin will soon inflame. 

LIGHT FROM GILT BUTTONS. 

Provide a new and highly-polished gilt button, and hold it in a 
strong light, closely but obliquely, over a sheet of white paper, 
when it will present radiatious exactly like the spokes of a car- 
riage-wheel ; the radiations being sixteen in number, and a little 
contracted in the centre opposite the eye of the button, and 
presenting altogether a beautiful appearance. 

LIGHT FROM A FLOWER. 

Hold a lighted candle to the flower of the fraxinella, and it 
will dart forth little flashes of light. This beautiful appearance is 
caused by the essential and inflammable oil contained in small 
vessels at the extremities of the flower, which vessels burn at 
the approach of any inflamed body, setting at liberty the essential 
oil, as that contained iu orange-peel is discharged by pressure. 

LIGHT FROM SUGAR. 

Simply break a bit of lump sugar between the fingers in the 
dark, and light will be produced at the moment of fracture. 

Or, if powdered loaf sugar be put into a spoon, fused, and 
kindled in the flame of a lamp, it will exhibit a fine jet of flame. 



LIGHT AND HEAT. 63 

LIGHT FROM THE POTATO. 

Place a few potatoes in a dark cellar, and when they become 
in a state of putrefaction, they will give out a vivid light sufficient 
to read by. A few years since, an officer on guard at Strasbourg 
thought the barracks were on fire, in consequence of the light thus 
emitted from a cellar full of putrefying potatoes. 

LIGHT FROM THE OYSTER. 

Open an oyster, retain the liquor in the lower or deep shell, and 
if viewed through a microscope, it will be found to contain multi- 
tudes of small oysters, covered with shells, and swimming nimbly 
about ; one hundred and twenty of which in a row would extend 
but one inch. Besides these young oysters, the liquor contains a 
variety of animalculse, and myriads of three distinct species of 
worms, which shine in the dark like glow-worms. Sometimes 
their light resembles a bluish star about the centre of the shell, 
which will be beautifully luminous in a dark room. 

LIGHT FROM DERBYSHIRE SPAR. 

Pound, coarsely, some of the dark blue or the fetid variety of 
Derbyshire spar; heat it in a dark room, in a platinum spoon, over 
the low flame of a spirit-lamp, and the spar will shine with a 
beautiful purple tint. 

Pounded swinestone, calcareous spar, and powdered quartz, will 
also give out light, if strewn upon a fire-shovel which has been 
heated red-hot, and has just ceased glowing. 

A variety of fluor spar, found in granite in Siberia, will shine 
in the dark when warmed, with a remarkably strong phosphorescent 



64 LIGHT AND HEAT. 

light, increasing as the temperature is raised. The light augments 
when the spar is plunged into water; and in boiling water, the spar 
becomes so luminous that the letters of a printed book can be seen 
in a dark room near the glass containing it. 

Another variety of fluor spar, also found in Siberia, is of a 
pale violet colour, and emits a white light merely by the heat of 
the hand ; and when put into boiling water, it will give out a 
green light. 

LIGHT FROM OYSTER-SHELLS. 

Put oyster-shells into a common fire; burn them for about half 
an hour ; then remove them into a dark room, when many of the 
shells will exhibit beautiful specimens of prismatic colours. 

RINGS OF LIGHT IN CRYSTAL. 

This is one of the most striking of optical exhibitions, and may 
be thus simply produced. Provide a sheet of clear ice, about an 
inch thick, frozen in still weather; let the light fall through the 
ice upon a pane of window-glass, or a polished table, and by 
placing a fragment of plate-glass near the eye as a reflector, the 
most beautiful rings of light may be observed. 

TO STRIKE LIGHT WITH CANE. 

Strike a piece of rattan cane with a steel, and it contains so 
much silex, or flint, that it will exhibit sparks of light in the dark. 

CAUSE OF TRANSPARENCY. 

Moisten a piece of paper, and it will appear more transparent 
than when in its natural state ; the cause of which is as follows: a 



LIGHT AND HEAT. 65 

piece of dry paper has its pores obstructed with finely interwoven 
threads; these are broken by the liquor, which also fills the pores 
as so many small tubes, and permits the light to pass through it, 
whereas the dry threads had hitherto prevented its passage. 

TRANSPARENCY OF GOLD. 

All bodies are more or less transparent. Thus, though gold is 
one of the densest metals, yet, if a piece of the thinnest gold-leaf 
be held up to a candle, the light will pass through it; and, that 
it passes through the substance of the metal, and not through 
cracks or holes too small to be detected by the eye, is evident 
from the colour of the transmitted light, which is green. 

TINT CHANGED BY THICKNESS. 

Provide a piece of plain and polished smalt-blue glass, such as 
sugar-basins and finger glasses are made of. It should be of 
unequal thickness. Look through this glass at a strong light, as 
that from the crack of a window* shutter, in a darkened room, 
and, at the thinnest part, the colour will be purely blue. As the 
thickness increases, a purple tinge will come on, which will be- 
come more and more ruddy ; and, if the glass be very thick, the 
colour will pass to a deep red. 

SHADOWS MADE DARKER BY INCREASED LIGHT. 

Hold a finger between a candle and the wall, and it will cast a 
shadow of a certain darkness ; then place another candle in the 
same line with the other from the wall, and the shadow will ap- 
pear doubly dark, although there will be more light in the room 
than before. Then separate the candles, and place them so as 
to produce two shadows of the finger, one partly overlapping the 
other, and that part will be of double darkness, as compared 
with the remainders. 

6 



66 LIGHT AND HEAT. 

MINIATURE THUNDER AND LIGHTNING. 

To imitate thunder, provide a thin sheet of iron ; hold it by 
one corner between the ringer and thumb, and allow it to hang 
freely by its own weight. Then shake the hand horizontally, so 
as to agitate the corner in a direction at right angles to the surface 
of the sheet. Thus you may produce a great variety of sounds, 
from the deep growl of distant thunder to those loud claps which 
rattle in rapid succession immediately over our heads. The same 
effect may be produced by sheets of tinned iron, or tin-plate, and 
by thin plates of mica; but the sound is shorter and more acute. 

Partial flashes of lightning, aurora borealis, &c. may be beauti- 
fully imitated by taking in a spoon about a dram of the seeds of 
lycopodium, and throwing them against a lighted candle, all 
other light being excluded from the room. 

A similar effect may be produced, by laying some powdered 
resin on a piece of paper, and flllipping it with the finger against 
the flame of a candle. 

THE BURNING GLASS. 

If, when the sun shines brightly, a piece of paper be held in 
the focus of the rays drawn by the burning-glass, it will take 
fire. This experiment succeeds best with brown or any dark- 
coloured paper : for, though the glass will collect an equal num- 
ber of rays upon white as upon coloured paper, the white paper 
reflects the rays instead of allowing them to enter it; hence, the 
white is not so soon burnt as the coloured paper, which absorbing 
more light than it reflects, soon becomes heated and takes fire. 

MAGIC OF HEAT. 

Melt a small quantity of the sulphate of potass and copper in 
a spoon over a spirit-lamp; it will be fused at a heat just below 



LIGHT AND HEAT. 67 

redness, and produce a liquid of a dark green colour. Remove 
the spoon from the flame, when the liquid will become a solid of 
a brilliant emerald-green colour, and so remain till its heat sinks 
nearly to that of boiling water, when suddenly a commotion will 
take place throughout the mass, beginning from the surface, and 
each atom, as if animated, will start up and separate itself from 
the rest, till, in a few moments, the whole will become a heap 
of powder. 

REPULSION BY HEAT. 

Provide two small pieces of glass ; sprinkle a minute portion of 
sulphur upon one piece, lay thin slips of wood around it, and place 
upon it the other piece of glass. Move them slowly over the flame 
of a lamp or candle, and the sulphur will become sublimed, and 
form grey nebulous patches, which are very curious microscopic 
objects. Each cluster consists of thousands of transparent glo- 
bules, imitating, in miniature, the nebulas which we see figured 
in treatises on astronomy. By observing the largest particles, we 
shall find them to be flattened on one side. Being very transpa- 
rent, each of them acts the part of a little lens, and forms in its 
focus the image of a distant light, which can be perceived even 
in the smaller globules, until it vanishes from minuteness. If they 
are examined again after a certain number of hours, the smaller 
globules will generally be found to have retained their transpa- 
rency, while the larger ones will have become opaque, in conse- 
quence of the sulphur having undergone some internal sponta- 
neous change. But the most remarkable circumstance attending 
this experiment is, that the globules are found adhering to the 
upper glass only ; the reason of which is, that the upper glass is 
somewhat cooler than the lower one ; by which means we see 
that the vapour of sulphur is very powerfully repelled by heated 



68 LIGHT AND HEAT. 

glass. The flattened form of the particles is owing to the force 
with which they endeavour to recede from the lower glass, and 
their consequent pressure against the surface of the upper one. 
This experiment is considered by its originator, Mr. H. F. Talbot, 
F. R. S., to be a satisfactory argument in favour of the repulsive 
power of heat 

HEAT PASSING THROUGH GLASS. 

The following experiment is also by Mr. Ta]bot : — Heat a 
poker bright-red hot, and having opened a window, apply the 
poker quickly very near to the outside of a pane, and the hand 
to the inside ; a strong heat will be felt at the instant, which will 
cease as soon as the poker is withdrawn, and may be again re- 
newed, and made to cease as quickly as before. Now, it is well 
known, that if a piece of glass is so much warmed as to convey 
the impression of heat to the hand, it will retain some part of 
that heat for a minute or more; but, in this experiment, the heat 
will vanish in a moment. It will not, therefore, be the heated 
pane of glass that we shall feel, but heat which has come through 
the glass, in a free or radiant state. 

METALS UNEQUALLY INFLUENCED BY HEAT. 

All metals do not conduct heat at the same rate, as may be 
proved by holding in the flame of a candle at the same time, a 
piece of silver wire, and a piece of platina wire, when the silver 
wire will become too hot to hold, much sooner than the platina. 
Or, cut a cone of each wire, tip it with wax, and place it upon a 
heated plate, as (a fire shovel,) when the wax will melt at differ- 
ent periods. 



LIGHT AND HEAT. 69 



SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION. 



Mix a little chlorate of potass with spirit of wine in a strong 
saucer ; add a little sulphuric acid, and an orange vapour will 
arise and burst into flame. 

INEQUALITY OF HEAT IN FIRE-IRONS. 

Place before a brisk fire a set of polished fire-irons, and besides 
them a rough unpolished poker, such as is used in a kitchen, or 
instead of a bright poker. The polished irons will remain for a 
long time without becoming warmer than the temperature of the 
room, because the heat radiated from the fire is all reflected, or 
thrown off, by the polished surface of the irons, and none of it is 
absorbed. The rough poker will, however, become speedily hot, 
so as not to be used without inconvenience. Hence, the polish of 
fire-irons is not merely ornamental but useful. 

EXPANSION OF METAL BY HEAT. 

Provide an iron rod, and fit it exactly into a metal ring ; heat 
the rod red-hot, and it will no longer enter the ring. 

Observe an iron gate on a warm day, when it will shut with 
difficulty; whereas, it will shut loosely and easily on a cold day. 

EVAPORATION OF A METAL. 

Rub a globule of mercury upon a silver spoon, and the two 
metals will combine with a white appearance ; heat the spoon care- 
fully in the flame of a spirit-lamp, when the mercury will volatilize 
and disappear, and the spoon may then be polished until it recovers 



70 LIGHT AND HEAT. 

its usual lustre : if, however, the mercury be left for some time 
on the spoon, the solid texture of the silver will be destroyed 
throughout, and then the silver can only be recovered by heating 
it in a ladle. 

A FLOATING METTLE ON FIRE. 

Throw a small piece of that marvellous substance, potassium, 
into a basin of water, and it will swim upon the surface, and burn 
with a beautiful light, of a" red colour mixed with violet. When 
moderately heated in the air, potassium takes fire, and burns with 
a red light. 

HEAT AND COLD FROM FLANNEL. 

Put a piece of ice into a basin, which wrap up in many folds 
of flannel, and the ice may be preserved for some time by the 
fireside. 

ICE MELTED BY AIR. 

If two pieces of ice be placed in a warm room, one of them 
may be made to melt much sooner than the other, by blowing on 
it with a pair of bellows. 

TO HOLD A HOT TEA-KETTLE ON THE HAND. 

Be sure that the bottom of the kettle is well covered with soot ; 
when the water in it boils, remove it from the fire, and place it 
upon the palm of the hand ; no inconvenience will be felt, as the 
soot will prevent the heat being transmitted, from the water within 
and the heated metal, to the hand. 



LIGHT AND HEAT. 71 

INCOMBUSTIBLE LINEN. 

Make a strong solution of borax in water, and steep in it linen, 
muslin, or any article of clothing ; when dry, they cannot easily 
be inflamed. 

THE BURNING CIRCLE. 

Light a stick, and whirl it round with a rapid motion, when its 
burning end will produce a complete circle of light, although that 
end can only be in one part of the circle at the same instant. 
This is caused by the duration of the impression of light upon 
the retina. Another example is, that during the twinkling of the 
eye we never lose sight of the object we are viewing. 

WATER OF DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES IN THE SA.ME VESSEL. 

Of heat and cold, as of wit and madness, it may be said that 
" thin partitions do their bounds divide." Thus, paint one-half of 
the surface of a tin-pot with a mixture of lamp-black and size, and 
leave the other half, or side, bright ; fill the vessel with boiling 
water, and by dipping a thermometer, or even the finger, into it 
shortly after, it will be found to cool much more rapidly upon the 
blackened than upon the bright side of the pot. 

WARMTH OF DIFFERENT COLOURS. 

Place upon the surface of snow, as upon the window-sill, in 
bright daylight or sunshine, pieces of cloth of the same size and 
quality, but of different colours, blacky blue, green, yellow, and 
white : the black cloth will soon melt the snow beneath it, and 
sink downwards ; next the blue, and then the green ; the yellow 
but slightly; but the snow beneath the white cloth will be as firm 
as at first. 



12 



LIGHT AND HEAT. 



SUBSTITUTE FOR FIRE. 

Put into a cup a lump of quick-lime, fresh from the kiln, pour 
water upon it, and the heat will be very great A pailful of 
quick-lime, if dipped in water, and shut closely into a box con- 
structed for the purpose, will give out sufficient heat to warm a 
room, even in very cold weather. 




f> 





®^g ^E^E) ©^51^5 



LAUGHING GAS. 




^HE above fanciful appellation has been given to 

l /~^i nitrous oxide, from the very agreeable sensa- 

S tions excited by inhaling it. In its pure state 

„im it destroys animal life, but loses this noxious 

^■^fifi quality when inhaled, because it becomes 



ft'^i^ '£Tc^\L blended with the atmospheric air which it 
meets in the lungs. This gas is made by putting three or four 
drams of nitrate of ammonia, in crystals, into a small glass re- 
tort, which being held over a spirit lamp, the crystals will melt, 
and the gas be evolved. 

Having thus produced the gas, it is to be passed into a large 
bladder having a stop-cock ; and when you-are desirous of exhibiting 
its effects, you cause the person who wishes to experience them, 
to first exhale the atmospheric air from the lungs, and then quickly 



76 GAS AND STEAM. 

placing the cock in his mouth, you turn it, and bid him inhale the 
gas. Immediately, a sense of extraordinary cheerfulness, fanciful 
flights of imagination, an uncontrollable propensity to laughter, 
and a consciousness of being capable of great muscular exertion, 
supervene. It does not operate in exactly the same manner on 
all persons ; but in most cases the sensations are agreeable, and 
have this important difference from those produced by wine or 
spirituous liquors, that they are not succeeded by any depres- 
sion of mind. 

THE LUMINOUS WAND. 

Cover a long slip of wood, halfway, with sulphur, by immer- 
sion while in a melted state. Having prepared a jar of nitrous 
oxide gas, as in preceding experiments, light the sulphur, and 
plunge the wand into the jar. The gas will extinguish the flame. 
Withdraw the wand, light it again, and when the flame is very 
brilliant, immerse it again in the jar. It will this time burn 
with great splendour, and of a beautiful red colour. 

TO MAKE CARBONIC ACID GAS. 

Put about an ounce of marble in small lumps, into an eight 
ounce phial, with about an equal quantity of water ; pour in a 
little muriatic acid, and carbonic acid gas will be evolved. 

CARBONIC ACID GAS IN WINE OR BEER VESSELS. 

The apparently empty or upper part of vessels in which wine 
or beer is working, is filled with this deleterious gas ; for its 
great weight prevents its ascent from the fermenting liquid. A 
variety of striking but simple experiments maybe made with the 



GAS AND STEAM. 77 

gas in this condition, Lighted paper, or a candle dipped into it, 
will be immediately extinguished ; and the smoke remaining in 
the carbonic acid gas will render its surface visible, which may 
be thrown into waves by agitation, like water. In consequence 
of the great weight of the carbonic acid gas, it may be taken 
from a vat of fermenting liquor, in a jug or bottle, and in the 
latter, if well corked, it may be conveyed to great distances ; 
or the gas may be drawn out of a vessel by a cock, like a liquid. 

TO EXTINGUISH FLAME WITH GAS. 

The effects produced by pouring carbonic acid gas from one 
vessel to another, have a very singular appearance : if a lighted 
candle be placed in a jar, and the gas be poured upon it, the 
flame will be extinguished in a few seconds, though the eye is 
incapable of distinguishing that anything is poured out. 

EFFECT OF HYDROGEN ON THE VOICE. 

Make a hole through a wine cork of sufficient size to admit a 
smaller cork ; through which make another hole, and fix it into 
the larger one. Tie the corks thus fixed into the neck of a 
bullock's bladder, previously exhausted of air ; let a tube from 
a bottle generating hydrogen pass very tightly through the 
aperture in the small cork, and the gas will distend and fill the 
bladder. The instant it is full, withdraw the inner cork, and 
either prevent the escape of the gas by means of the thumb, or 
cork it closely, till the operator is ready to breathe the gas ; to 
do which, he should put the open cork into his mouth, and take 
one inspiration, when, on immediately speaking, his voice will 
be remarkably shrill. The effect will pass off in a few seconds. 



78 



GAS AND STEAM. 



MAGIC TAPER. 

Provide a piece of copper wire, about ten inches long, and fix 
at one end of it a piece of wax taper: take a pint bottle of hydro- 
gen, and place the mouth downwards; light the taper, introduce 
it into the bottle, and the gas will take fire, and burn slowly 
towards the mouth, where it is in contact w r ith the air. If, how- 
ever, the taper be passed up into the bottle, it will be extin- 
guished ; but, on gently withdrawing it through the burning 
hydrogen, the wick will be rekindled. This may be done several 
times in succession with the same portion of gas. 



Prov 




THE GAS CANDLE. 

ide a strong glass bottle which will contain about eight 
ounces, or half a pint, into which put a few pieces 
'■'<i of zinc; then mix half an ounce of sulphuric acid 
^~ with four ounces of water, and pour it into the bottle 
upon the zinc; fit the mouth closely with a cork, 
through which put a metal tube which ends upward 
in a fine opening: the mixture in the bottle will soon 
effervesce, and hydrogen gas will rise through the 
tube. When it has escaped for about a minute, ap- 
ply a lighted paper to the tube, and the gas will burn 
like a candle, but with a pale flame. Its brightness 
may be increased to brilliance, by sifting over it a 
small quantity of magnesia. 



GAS BUBBLES. 



Provide a bladder, fill it with hydrogen gas, to be made as for 
the last experiment, and fit the end of a tobacco-pipe closely 
into the bladder; dip the bowl of the pipe into soap and water, and, 



GAS AND STEAM. 79 

by pressing the bladder, soap-bubbles will be formed, filled with 
hydrogen gas ; which bubbles, or balloons, will rise in the air, and 
keep there for some time. 

GAS-LIGHT IN THE DAY-TIME. 

Light a stream of hydrogen gas, and it will be scarcely visible 
in the day-light ; but place in it a small coil of platinum wire, or 
project a little oxide of zinc through the flame, and it will be- 
come very luminous. 

MINIATURE BALLOONS. 

One of the simplest and most beautiful experiments in aerosta- 
tion, is to take a turkey's maw, or stomach, properly prepared, and 
to fill it either with pure hydrogen gas, or the carburetted hy- 
drogen produced from coal. If the balloon be then allowed to 
escape in the open air, it will ascend rapidly in the atmosphere : 
but .the best method of showing the experiment, is to let the 
balloon off a high staircase, and observe it ascend to the cupola 
or light, where it will remain near the highest point till the 
escape of the gas allow it to descend. The prepared maw for 
this balloon may be purchased of any optician. 

MINIATURE GAS-LIGHTING. 

Bicarburetted hydrogen is the principal constituent of the gas 
burned in the streets : it is procured from coal, and the process 
may readily be performed on a small scale. Put about two ounces 
of pounded coal into an earthen retort, and fix a glass tube into 
the neck, terminating in an aperture of one-fifth of an inch in 
diameter; heat the retort red-hot, and apply the flame of a taper 



80 GAS AND STEAM. 

to the orifice of the tube, when the gas will burn with a bright 
white light, very different from that afforded by the combustion 
of hydrogen; a circumstance owing to the presence of particles 
of carbon in the carburet, which being intensely ignited, are 
highly luminous. 

It is no less strange than Jtrue, that bicarburetted hydrogen, 
the substance which we so largely consume to illuminate our 
towns, is ether when united to water in one proportion, and 
spirit when combined with it in another ; a fluid which constitutes 
the strength of all wines, beer, and fermented liquors. 



MUSICAL GAS. 

Into a half-pint glass bottle, put some zinc, granulated by 
being melted in a ladle, and then poured gradually into water. 
Add some sulphuric acid, diluted with eight parts 
by weight of water. Then pass a glass tube with 
a capillary bore, through a cork, which you have 
previously made to closely fit the bottle, and cork 
the bottle well. In a short time, the atmospheric 
air will be expelled, and hydrogen gas will rise 
through the tube ; you then apply a light, and the gas 
will become ignited. If you now hold another glass 
tube, about eighteen or twenty inches long over the 
flame sufficiently wide to enclose the other tube very 
loosely (see engraving), the little speck of flame will 
sport along the larger tube, and musical sounds will be 
produced, which may be varied by using other tubes of 
different dimensions, and made of different materials ; the wide 
tubes forming the lower, and the narrow tubes the upper notes. 




GAS AND STEAM. 81 

MINIATURE WILL o'-THE-WISP. 

Put a small piece or two of the phosphuret of lime into a saucer 
of water, when bubbles of phosphuretted hydrogen gas will rise 
to the surface, explode into flame, and cause a white smoke ; repre- 
senting, on a small scale, the ignis faluus, or will o'-the-wisp, 
as seen over marshy ground, or stagnant pools of water. 

PHOSPHORIC ILLUMINATION. 

A light so brilliant that the eye can scarcely bear to contem- 
plate it, is produced by the immersion of phosphorus in oxygen 
gas. To perform this experiment, you place a piece of phosphorus 
in a copper cup, of the circumference of a sixpence, which is 
fastened to a thick piece of iron wire, attached to a cork which fits 
a bottle (as in the foregoing experiment) filled with oxygen gas. 
Set fire to the phosphorous, and quickly plunge it into the bottle; 
when the splendour of the combustion will be surpassingly beau- 
tiful. 

It is necessary to observe, that the heat is so excessive, that if 
the piece of phosphorous in this experiment be larger than a small 
pea, there will be great danger of breaking the bottle. 

COMBUSTION OF IRON IN OXYGEN GAS. 

Twist a piece of fine iron wire, such as is used by piano-forte 
makers, round a cylindrically-shaped piece of wood or metal, which 
will give it a spiral form ; or a broken watch-spring, which may be 
bought for a trifle of the watch-makers, will answer the same 
purpose. Fasten round one end of it some waxed cotton thread or 
twine, and attach the other end to a cork, which fits a glass jar or 
bottle, that will hold a quart, filled with oxygen gas. Having 
made the wire red-hot by setting light to the thread, plunge it into 

7 



82 GAS AND STEAM. 

the bottle. Do not cork the bottle, but let the cork merely lay on 
the mouth, and to prevent its being burned, a small a piece of lead 
should be fastened to the bottom of it. The iron will instantly 
begin to burn with great brilliancy, throwing cut luminous scin- 
tillations. 

To prevent the bottle from being broken by the sparks, a small 
quantity of sand should be previously poured into it. 

GLOW-WORM IN OXYGEN GAS. 

If a glow-worm be placed in a jar of oxygen gas, in a dark room, 
it will shine with a far surpassing brilliancy to that which it 
exhibits in atmospheric air. 

LUMINOUS CHARCOAL. 

Attach a small piece of charcoal to the end of a copper- wire; 
make it red-hot, and immerse it in a jar of oxygen gas. The 
charcoal will burn with great brilliance, throwing out splendid 
scintillations. The bark of the wood converted into charcoal must 
be selected, otherwise there will be no scintillations. 

BRILLIANT COMBUSTION IN OXYGEN. 

Place in a bottle of oxygen gas a lighted taper, and it will burn 
with a flame of increased brilliancy. 

Extinguish the taper immediately ; put it into the same or 
another bottle of oxygen, and it will be again lighted provided a 
spark remain on the wick. 

Bend a piece of iron wire in a spiral form, and tie on to one 
end some cotton or flax ; sprinkle some flour of sulphur on it, set 
it on fire, dip it into a bottle of oxygen gas, and beautiful cor- 
ruscations will be thrown off the wire. 



GAS AND STEAM. 83 

FLAME FROM COLD METALS. 

Provide a bottle of the gas chlorine, which may be purchased ' 
of any operative chemist, and with it you may exhibit some 
brilliant experiments. 

For example, reduce a small piece of the metal antimony to a 
very fine power in a mortar ; place some of this on a bent card, 
then loosen the stopper of the bottle of chlorine, and throw in the 
antimony, it will take fire spontaneously, and burn with much 
splendour ; thus exhibiting a cold metal spontaneously bursting 
into flame. 

If, however, a lump of antimony be dropped into the chlorine, 
there will be no spontaneous combustion, nor immediate change: 
but, in the course of time, the antimony will be become incrusted 
with a white powder, and no chlorine will be found in the bottle. 

Or, provide copper in fine leaves, known as " Dutch metal ;" 
slightly breathe on one end of a glass rod, about ten inches long, 
and cause one or two leaves of the metal to adhere to the damp 
end; then open a bottle of chlorine, quickly plunge in the leaves, 
when they will instantly take fire, and burn with a fine red light, 
leaving in the bottle a greenish-yellow solid substance. 

A small lump of copper, or " Duch metal," will not burn as 
above, but will be slowly acted upon, like the antimony. 

Immerse gold leaf in a jar of chlorine gas, and combustion with 
a beautiful green flame will take place. 

PHOSPHORUS IN CHLORINE, 

Put into a deflagrating spoon about four grains of phosphorus, 
and let it down into a bottle of chlorine, when the phosphorus 
will ignite instantaneously. 



84 GAS AND STEAM. 

Or, fold a slip of blotting-paper into a match five inches long ; 
dip it into oil of turpentine, drain it an instant, drop it into another 
bottle of chlorine, when it will burst into a flame, and deposit 
much carbon. 

CAOUTCHOUC BALLOONS. 

Put a little ether into a bottle of caoutchouc, close it tightly, 
soak it in hot water, and it will become inflated to a considerable 
size. These globes may be made so thin as to be transparent. 

A piece of caoutchouc, the size of a walnut, has thus been 
extended to a ball fifteen inches in diameter ; and a few years 
since, a caoutchouc balloon, thus made, escaped from Philadelphia, 
and was found 130 miles from that city. 

TO INCREASE THE LIGHT OF COAL GAS. 

Lay a piece of wire-gauze upon the glass chimney of a com- 
mon argand gas burner, when the flame will be enlarged to twice 
its former dimensions, and its light fully doubled. If the experi- 
ment be made with a common argand oil-lamp, the flame will be 
often enlarged, but so discoloured as to yield less light. 

GAS FROM INDIAN RUBBER. 

Put caoutchoucine, or the spirit distilled from caoutchouc, or 
Indian rubber, into a phial, little more than sufficient to cover the 
bottom, and the remainder of the phial will be filled with a heavy 
vapour ; pour this off the spirit into another phial, apply to it a 
piece of lighted paper, and the vapour will burn with a brilliant 
flame. 



GAS AKB STEAM. 85 



ETHER GAS. 



Let fall a few drops of ether into a large dr in king-glass, and 
cover it with a plate for a few minutes; during this time the glass 
will be filled with vapour from the ether, so that, on removing 
the plate, and applying a piece of lighted paper at the mouth of 
the glass, the invisible vapour will take fire ; thus proving how 
readily a volatile fluid, such as ether, combines with the air. 

MAGIC VAPOUR. 

Provide a glass tube, about three feet long and half an inch 
in diameter, nearly fill it with water, upon the surface of which 
pour a little coloured ether ; then close the open end of the tube 
carefully with the palm of the hand, invert it in a basin of water, 
and rest the tube against the wall: the ether will rise through 
the water to the upper end of the tube: pour a little hot water 
over the tube, and it will soon cause the ether to boil within, 
and its vapour may thus be made to drive nearly all the water 
out of the tube into the basin; if, however, you then cool the 
tube by pouring cold water over it, the vaporized ether will 
again become a liquid, and float upon the water as before. 

GAS FROM THE UNION OF METAlS. 

Nearly fill a wine-glass with diluted sulphuric acid, and place 
in it a wire of silver and another of zinc, taking care that they 
do not touch each other: when the zinc will be changed by the 
acid, but the silver will remain inert But, cause the upper ends 
of the wires to touch each other, and a stream of gas will issue 
from them. 



86 GAS AND STEAM. 

INVISIBLE GASES MADE VISIBLE. 

Pour a little sulphuric acid upon some common salt in a 
saucer. Into another saucer put a mixture of about two parts 
of quick-lime and one of sal ammoniac, both in powder, adding 
to these a very small quantity of boiling water. Each saucer 
apart will yield an invisible gas : but the moment they are 
brought closely together, very visible vapours will be the result. 

LIGHT UNDER WATER. 

Put into an eau de Cologne bottle two drams of chlorate of 
potass, and upon that salt about a dozen chips of phosphorous, 
and fill up the bottle with cold water : provide a glass tube which 
will reach to the potass, through which pour half-anounce, by 
measure, of strong sulphuric acid, when a gas will instantly rise, 
give to the liquid a deep yellow colour, and inflame the phos- 
phorous in a striking manner. 

GASEOUS EVANESCENCE. 

Add a tea-spoonful of fuming nitric acid to two tea-spoonfuls 
of spirit of wine, in a cup, and the liquids will presently disap- 
pear in the form of vapour. 

VIOLET-COLOURED GAS. 

Put three or four grains of iodine into a small clean Florence 
oil flask, and close it with a cork. Warm the flask gently over 
a candle, or before the fire, and the iodine will become converted 
into a beautiful violet-coloured vapour, which condenses again 
into brilliant metallic crystals, when the flask is suffered to be- 
come cold. The experiment may be repeated with the same 
flask for any number of times. 



GAS AND STEAM. 87 

Or, upon a small sheet of any metal, place a few grains of 
iodine, and add a chip of dry phosphorous ; when the latter will 
inflame, and the iodine pass off in a violet vapour. 

TO COLLECT GASES. 

Provide a moistened bladder, tie a piece of tobacco-pipe firmly 
into its neck, twisting it so as to expel the common air. This 
may be fitted to any vessel by means of the pipe, which may be 
fixed in the cork of a bottle containing gas, and closely luted 
with putty or clay, or powdered lime and white of egg. 

THE DEFLAGRATING SPOON. 

To introduce substances into gases, a deflagrating spoon is 
required. It may be bought for half-a-crown ; but an instrument 
equally useful may be made as follows: cut a piece of sheet cop- 
per somewhat larger than a sixpence, and bend it into a shallow, 
cup-like, form; twist four fine brass wires, each nine inches 
long, tightly together, leaving an inch at the extremities, which 
must be spread to hold the copper, as the strings or chains of a 
balance support the scale-pan. To complete it, take a piece of 
sheet-lead, the size of a penny-piece ; make a hole through the 
centre large enough to admit the twisted wires, but, at the same 
time, retaining them firmly in their position : then, if the wires 
will not rest in the lead by adhesion, the hole may be enlarged, 
the wire put in, and secured by a piece of solder. The spoon 
being then let down through the mouth of a bottle, the circular 
piece of lead rests upon and stops the mouth. 

WHAT IS STEAM? 

Invert a glass goblet over a cup of hot water, when the vapour 
or steam will be seen to rise in it, to condense upon the cold glass, 



S8 GAS AND STEAM. 

and then to run down its inside ; thus showing that steam is va- 
porized water, and will, when the heat is abstracted from it, 
become water again. 

THE STEAM-ENGINE SIMPLIFIED. 

The steam-engine is much more intelligible than its name 
first suggests. That part by which the machinery is set in mo- 
tion, may be compared to a syringe, or squirt, the rod of which 
is driven up and down by steam admitted above and below, one 
end of the rod being connected with the machinery to be worked. 
Thus, the piston is made to turn the wheels of a railway carriage, 
or the paddles of a steam-boat. 

The elastic force of the steam, or vapour, by which the rod is 
driven up and down, may be explained by this simple experi- 
ment. Provide a test tube, put into it a little water, hold the 
thumb over the mouth, and cause the water to boil by holding it 
over a spirit-lamp. There will soon be felt a pressure against 
the thumb ; when, if the tube be dipped into cold water, the 
thumb being still held at the end, a kind of suction will be felt 
against it. Now, the tube resembles the cylinder of the steam- 
engine, in which the piston moves up and down; to imitate 
which, wrap a little tow about the end of a piece of stick, grease 
it with tallow, and fit it moderately tight into the tube ; when 
the water is made to boil, the stick will be raised, and when the 
end is dipped into cold water, the stick will fall as the piston 
rises and falls in the cylinder. 

TO BOIL WATER BY STEAM. 

Nearly fill a retort with water, and boil it over a lamp ; then 
immerse the beak into a tumbler of cold water, and the disengaged 



GAS AND STEAM. 89 

steam will raise the water to the boiling temperature, though it 
be at a distance from the source of heat. 

DISTILLATION IN MINIATURE. 

Fill a kettle with water, and set it on the fire ; fix a long 
metal tube to the spout, and as soon as the water boils, the steam 
will pass into the tube, and being condensed into water, will drip 
at the other end of the tube, which corresponds with the worm 
in the still; it soon, however, becomes as hot as the water, and 
then the condensation will cease: but, were the tube passed 
through cold water, as is the worm of the still in a tub, the whole 
water in the kettle might be boiled away, but reproduced in the 
tube, and collected from it without the loss of a drop. This simple 
process resembles distillation, and the kettle and tube the still. 

CANDLE OR FIRE CRACKERS. 

Provide a number of little glass bulbs, put into each a drop of 
water, and seal it up; if it be then put into the flame of a candle, 
or the fire, the heat will soon convert the water into steam, and 
cause the bulb to burst with a loud report. 

STEAM FROM THE KETTLE. 

Observe attentively the steam that escapes from the spout of 
a tea-kettle, at the moment the water begins to boil, and you will 
perceive the steam to be condensed in minute drops on the interior 
edges of the spout. A few moments afterwards, provided the 
water continue to boil, the spout of the kettle will become per- 
fectly dry ; and, at the same time, close to it, there will be a 
certain space, say from one-half to three-fourths of an inch, 



90 



GAS AND STEAM. 



throughout which not a particle of steam will be perceptible. 
This may be easily explained. When the water in the kettle 
begins to boil, the spout being cooler than the steam issuing from 
it, a portion of that steam is condensed. As more steam escapes, 
the metal soon becomes as hot as the steam, will no longer con- 
dense it, and the spout becomes dry. By this time the steam 
will displace the air immediately opposite the orifice of the spout, 
whence it will issue dry and invisible. As it is cooled by 
mixing with the surrounding air, it assumes its well-known 
cloudy appearance. 





ipjmiiin 'w&^mm.n ^.sr® ,&ssa B 



COLOURED FLAMES. 

S S^J '<<sg^ r^x VARIET Y of rays of light is exhibited by coloured 
\' 7? v^- : :^} flames, which are not to be seen in white light. 
\20*s , ; ^v '^rf/f) Thus, pure hydrogen gas will burn with a blue 
, : ~\ flame, in which many of the rays of light are 
^~0^i^lm0^ wanting. The flame of an oil-lamp contains 
C^iV^^/A 4 ./ most of the rays which are wanting in sun- 
light. Alcohol, mixed with water, when 
heated or burned, affords a flame with no other rays but yellow. 
The following salts, if finely powdered, and introduced into the 
exterior flame of a candle, or into the wick of a spirit-lamp will 
communicate to flame their peculiar colours : 

Muriate of Soda (common salt) . . Yellow. 

Muriate of Potash Pale violet. 

Muriate of Lime Brick red. 

Muriate of Strontia Bright crimson. 



94 FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 

Muriate of Lithia Red. 

Muriate of Baryta Pale apple-green. 

Muriate of Copper Bluish green. 

Borax Green. 

Or, either of the above salts may be mixed with spirit of wine, 
as directed for Red Fire, 



YELLOW FLAME. 

Burn spirits of wine on common table salt or saltpetre. 

ORANGE-COLOURED FLAME. 

Burn spirit of wine on chloride of calcium, a substance obtained 
by evaporating muriate of lime to dryness. 

EMERALD GREEN FLAME. 

Burn spirit of wine on a little powdered nitrate of copper. 

INSTANTANEOUS FLAME. 

Heat together potassium and sulphur, and they will instantly 
burn very vividly. 

Heat a little nitre in a fire-shovel, sprinkle on it flour of sul- 
phur, and it will instantly burn. If iron filings be thrown upon 
red-hot nitre, they will detonate and burn. 

Pound, separately, equal parts of chlorate of potash and lump 
sugar ; mix them, and put upon a plate a small quantity ; dip a 
thread into sulphuric acid, touch the powder with it. and it will 
burst into a brilliant flame. 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 95 

Or. put a few grains of chlorate of potash into a table-spoonful 
of spirit of wine ; add one or two drops of sulphuric acid, and the 
whole will burst into a beautiful flame. 

THE CLP OF FLAME. 

Put a little newly calcined magnesia into a tea-cup upon the 
hearth or hob, and suddenly pour in as much concentrated sul- 
phuric acid as will cover the magnesia; in an instant, sparks will 
be thrown out, and the mixture will become completely ignited. 
To prevent accidents, the phial containing the sulphuric acid 
should be tied to the end of a long stick. 

TO COOL FLAME BY METAL, 

Encircle the very small flame of a lamp with a cold hon wire, 
which will instantly cause its extinction. 

PROOF THAT FLAME IS HOLLOW. 

Pour some spirit of wine into a watch-glass, and inflame it ; 
place a straw across this flame, and it will only be ignited and 
charred at the outer edge : the middle of the straw will be un- 
injured, for there is no ignited matter in the centre of the flame. 

Or. introduce into the middle of the flame one end of a glass 
tube, when the vapour will rise through it, and may be lighted 
at the other end of the tube. 

CAMPHOR SUBLIMED BY FLAME. 

Set a metallic plate over the flame of a spirit-lamp ; place upon 
it a small portion of camphor under a glass funnel ; and the cam- 
phor will be beautifully sublimed by the heat of the lamp, in 
an efflorescent crust on the sides of the funnel. 



96 FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 

GREEN FIRE. 

A beautiful green fire may be thus made. Take of flour of 
sulphur, thirteen parts; nitrate of baryta, seventy-seven; oxy- 
muriate of potassa, five; metallic arsenic, two; and charcoal, 
three. Let the nitrate of baryta be well dried and powdered ; 
then add to it the other ingredients, all finely pulverized, and 
exceedingly well mixed and rubbed together. Place a portion of 
the composition in a small tin pan, having a polished reflector 
fitted to one side, and set light to it ; when a splendid green illu- 
mination will be the result. By adding a little calamine, it will 
burn more slowly. 

BRILLIANT RED FIRE. 

Weigh five ounces of dry nitrate of strontia, one ounce and a 
half of finely-powdered sulphur, five drams of chlorate of potash, 
and four drams of sulphuret of antimony. Powder the chlorate 
of potash and the sulphuret of antimony separately in a mortar, 
and mix them on paper ; after which, add them to the other in- 
gredients, previously powdered and mixed. No other kind of 
mixture than rubbing together on paper is required. For use, mix 
with a portion of the powder a small quantity of spirit of wine, in 
a tin pan resembling a cheese-toaster, light the mixture, and it 
will shed a rich crimson hue : when the fire burns dim and badly, 
a very small quantity of finely-powdered charcoal or lamp-black 
will revive it 

PURPLE FIRE. 

Dissolve chloride of lithium in spirit of wine ; and when lighted, 
it will burn with a purplish flame. 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 97 

SILVER FIRE. 

Place upon a piece of burning charcoal a morsel of the dried 
crystals of nitrate of silver, (not the lunar caustic,) and it will 
immediately throw out the most beautiful sparks that can be 
imagined, whilst the surface of the charcoal will be coated with 
silver. 

THE FIERY MOUNTAIN. 

Put into a glass tumbler fifteen grains of finely granulated 
zinc, and six grains of phosphorus cut into very small pieces, 
beneath water. Mix in another glass, gradually, a dram of sul- 
phuric acid with two drams of water. Remove both glasses into 
a dark room, and there pour the diluted acid over the zinc and 
phosphorus in the glass : in a short time, beautiful jets of bluish 
flame will dart from all parts of the surface of the mixture ; it will 
become quite luminous, and beautiful luminous smoke will rise in 
a column from the glass ; thus representing a fountain of fire. 

THE ARTIFICIAL CONFLAGRATION. 

Put into a small, narrow-necked earthen bottle, half an ounce 
of muriate of ammonia, an ounce of camphor, and two ounces of 
highly rectified spirit of wine ; set fire to it, and the room will 
seem to be in flames. This experiment should be performed in 
the dark. 

INFLAMMABLE POWDER. 

Heat a small portion of the grey powder of aluminum, and it 
will ignite, inflame, and burn with great rapidity. Or, blow a 
little of this powder into the flame of a candle, and it will produce 
a small shower of sparks, brilliant as those from iron filings. 



98 FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 

COMBUSTION WITHOUT FRAME. 

Light a small green wax-taper ; in a minute or two, blow out 
the flame, and the wick will continue red-hot for many hours; and, 
if the taper were regularly and carefully uncoiled, and the room 
kept free from currents of air, the wick would burn on in this 
manner until the whole taper were consumed. The same effect is 
not produced when the colour of the wax is red, on which account, 
red wax-tapers are safer than green ; for the latter, if left imper- 
fectly extinguished, may set fire to any object with which they 
are in contact. 

COMBUSTION OF THREE METALS. 

Mix a grain or two of potassium with an equal quantity of 
sodium ; add a globule of quicksilver, and the three metals, when 
shaken, will take fire, and burn vividly. 

TO MAKE PAPER INCOMBUSTIBLE. 

Take a smooth cylindrical piece of metal, about one inch and 
a half in diameter, and eight inches long ; wrap very closely round 
it a piece of clean writing paper, then hold the paper in the flame 
of a spirit-lamp, and it will not take fire ; but it may be held 
there for a considerable time, without being in the least affected 
by the flame. 

SINGULAR EXPERIMENTS WITH GLASS TUBES. 

A most remarkable phenomenon is produced in glass tubes, 
under certain circumstances. When these are laid before a fire 
in a horizontal position, having their extremities properly sup- 
ported, they acquire a rotatory motion round their axis, and also a 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 99 

progressive motion towards the fire, even when their supports are 
declining from the fire, so that the tubes will move a little way 
upwards to the fire. When the progressive motion of the tubes 
towards the fire is stopped by any obstacle, their rotation still 
continues. When the tubes are placed in a nearly upright 
posture, leaning to the right hand, the motion will be from east 
to west ; but if they lean to the left hand, the motion will be 
from west to east ; and the nearer they are placed to the upright 
posture, the less will the motion be either way. If the tube be 
placed horizontally on a glass plane, the fragment, for instance, 
of coach window glass, instead of moving towards the fire, it will 
move from it, and about its axis in a contrary direction to what it 
had done before ; nay, it will recede from the fire, and move a 
little upwards, when the plane inclines towards the fire. These 
experiments succeed best with tubes about twenty or twenty-two 
inches long, which have in each end a pretty strong pin fixed in 
cork for their axis. 

AQUATIC BOMB. 

Drop about two grains of potassium into a saucer of cold water. 
It will instantly burst into flame, with a slight explosion, burn 
vividly on the surface, and dart about with great violence in the 
form of a red-hot fire ball. 

HEAT NOT TO BE ESTIMATED BY TOUCH. 

Hold both hands in water which causes the thermometer to rise 
to ninety degrees, and when the liquid has become still, you will 
be insensible of the heat, and that the hand is touching any thing. 
Then remove one hand to water that causes the thermometer to 
rise to 200 degrees, and the other in water at thirty-two degrees. 



100 FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 

After holding the hands thus for some time, remove them, and 
again immerse them in the water at ninety degrees ; when you 
will fell warmth in one hand and cold in the other. To the 
hand which had been immersed in the water at thirty-two degrees, 
the water at ninety degrees will feel hot; and to the hand which 
had been immersed in the water at 200 degrees, the water at 
ninety degrees will feel cold. If, therefore, the touch in this case 
be trusted, the same water will be judged to be hot and cold at 
the same time. 

FLAME UPON WATER. 

Fill a wine-glass with cold water, pour lightly upon its surface 
a little ether ; light it by a slip of paper, and it will burn for 
some time. 

ROSE-COLOURED FLAME ON WATER. 

Drop a globule of potassium, about the size of a large pea, 
into a small cup nearly fully of water, containing a drop or two of 
strong nitric acid; the moment that the metal touches the liquid, 
it will float upon its surface, enveloped with a beautiful rose- 
coloured flame, and entirely dissolve. 

TO SET A MIXTURE ON FIRE WITH WATER. 

Pour into a saucer a little sulphuric acid, and place upon it a 
chip of sodium, which will float and remain uninflamed; but the 
addition of a drop of water will set it on fire. 

WAVES OF FIRE ON WATER. 

On a lump of refined sugar let fall a few drops of phos- 
phuretted ether, and put the sugar into a glass of warm water, 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 101 

which will instantly appear on fire at the surface, and in waves, 
if gently blown with the breath. This experiment should be 
exhibited in the dark. 

EXPLOSION IN WATER. 

Throw very small pieces of phosphuret of potassium into a 
basin of water, and they will produce separate explosions. The 
same substance will also burn with great^ brilliancy, when ex- 
posed to air. 

WATER FROM THE FLAME OF A CANDLE. 

Hold a cold and dry bell-glass over a lighted candle, and 
watery vapour will be directly condensed on the cold surface ; 
then close the mouth of the glass with a card or plate, and turn 
the mouth uppermost ; remove the card, quickly pour in a little 
lime-water, a perfectly clear liquid, and it will instantly become 
turbid and milky, upon meeting with the contents of the glass, 
just as lime-water changes when dropped into a glass of water. 

FORMATION OF WATER BY FIRE. 

Put into a tea-cup a little spirit of wine, set it on fire, and in- 
vert a large bell-glass over it. In a short time, a thick watery 
vapour will be seen upon the inside of the bell, which may be 
collected by a dry sponge. 

ROILING UPON COLD WATER. 

Provide a tall glass jar, filled with cold water, and place in it 
an air thermometer, which will nearly reach the surface ; upon 
the surface place a small copper basin, into which put a little live 
charcoal : the surface of the water will soon be made to boil, 



102 FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 

while the thermometer will show that the water beneath is 
scarcely warmer than it was at first. 

CURRENTS IN BOILING WATER. 

FilJ a large glass tube with water, and throw into it a few 
particles of bruised amber; then hold the tube, by a handle for 
the purpose, upright in the flame of a lamp, and, as the water 
becomes warm, it will be seen that currents, carrying with them 
the pieces of amber, will begin to ascend in the centre, and to 
descend towards the circumference of the tube. These currents 
will soon become rapid in their motions, and continue till the 
water boils. 

HOT WATER LIGHTER THAN COLD. 

Pour into a glass tube, about ten inches long, and one inch in 
diameter, a little water coloured with pink or other dye; then fill 
it up gradually and carefully with colourless water, so as not to 
mix them : apply heat at the bottom of the tube, and the coloured 
water will ascend and be diffused throughout the whole. 

The circulation of warm water may be very pleasingly shown, 
by heating water in a tube similar to the foregoing ; the water 
having diffused in it some particles of amber, or other light sub- 
stance not soluble in water. 

EXPANSION OF WATER BY COLD. 

x\ll fluids, except water, diminish in bulk till they freeze. Thus, 
fill a large thermometer tube with water, say of the temperature of 
eighty degrees, and then plunge the bulb into pounded ice and salt, 
or any other freezing mixture : the water will go on shrinking in the 
tube till it has attained the temperature of about forty degrees ; and 
then, instead of continuing to contract till it freezes, (as is the case 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 103 

with all other liquids,) it will be seen slowly to expand and con- 
sequently to rise in the tube until it congeals. In this case, the 
expansion below forty degrees, and above forty degrees, seems 
to be equal : so that the water will be of the same bulk at thirty- 
two degrees as at forty-eight degrees, that is, at eight degrees 
above or below forty degrees. 

THE CUP OF TANTALUS. 

This pretty toy may be purchased at any optician's for two or 
three shillings. It consists of a cup, in which is placed a standing 
human figure, concealing a syphon, or bent tube, with one end 
longer than the other. This rises in one leg of the figure to 
reach the chin, and descends through the other leg through the 
bottom of the cup to a reservoir beneath. If you pour water in 
the cup, it will rise in the shorter leg by its upward pressure, 
driving out the air before it through the longer leg ; and when 
the cup is filled above the bend of the syphon, (that is, level with 
the chin of the figure,) the pressure of the water will force it 
over into the longer leg of the syphon, and the cup will be 
emptied : the toy thus imitating Tantalus of mythology, who is 
represented by the poets as punished in Erebus with an insatia- 
ble thirst, and placed up to the chin in a pool of water, which, 
however, flowed away as soon as he attempted to taste it. 

IMITATIVE DIVING BELL. 

Nearly fill a basin with water, and put upon its surface a float- 
ing lighted wick or taper ; over this place a glass goblet, mouth 
downwards, and push it into the water, which will be kept out, 
whilst the wick will continue to float and burn under the goblet; 
thus imitating the living inmate of a diving bell, which is merely 
a larger goblet, with a man instead of a candle within it. 



104 FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 

THE WATER-PROOF SIEVE. 

Fill a very fine wire-gauze sieve with water, and it will not 
run through the interstices, but be retained among them by ca- 
pillary attraction. 

MORE THAN FULL. 

Fill a glass to the brim with water, and you may add to it 
spirit of wine without causing the water to overflow, as the spirit 
will enter into the pores of the water. 

TO CAUSE WINE AND WATER TO CHANGE PLACES. 

Fill a small narrow-necked bulb with port wine, or with water 
and coloured spirit of wine, and put the bulb into a tall, narrow 
glass jar, which is then to be filled up with cold water : imme- 
diately, the coloured fluid will issue from the bulb, and accumu- 
late on the surface of the water in the jar, while colourless water 
will be seen accumulating at the bottom of the bulb. By close 
inspection, the descending current of the water may also be ob- 
served, and the coloured and the colourless liquids be seen to 
pass each other in the narrow neck of the bulb without mixing. 

The whole of the coloured fluid will shortly have ascended, 
and the bulb will be entirely filled with clear water. 

PYRAMID OF ALUM. 

Put a lump of alum into a tumbler of water, and, as the alum 
dissolves, it will assume the shape of a pyramid. The cause of 
the alum decreasing in this peculiar form is briefly as follows : 
at first, the water dissolves the alum very fast, but as the alum 
becomes united with the water, the solvent power of the latter 
diminishes. The water, which combines first with the alum, be- 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 



105 



comes heavier by the union, and falls to the bottom of the glass; 
where it ceases to dissolve any more, although the water which 
it has displaced from the bottom has risen to the top of the glass, 
and is there acting upon the alum. When the solution has nearly 
terminated, if you closely examine the lump, you will find it 
covered with geometrical figures, cut out, as it were, in relief, 
upon the mass; showing, not only that the cohesion of the atoms 
of the alum resists the power of solution in the water, but that, 
in the present instance, it resists it more in some directions than 
in others. Indeed this experiment beautifully illustrates the 
opposite action of cohesion and repulsion. 



VISIBLE VIBRATION. 

Provide a glass goblet about two-thirds filled with coloured 
water, draw a fiddle-bow against its edge, and the surface of the 
water will exhibit a pleasing figure, composed of 
fans, four, six, or eight in number, dependent on 
the dimensions of the vessel, but chiefly on the 
pitch of the note produced. 

Or, nearly fill a glass with water, draw the bow 
strongly against its edge, the water will be ele- 
vated and depressed; and, when the vibration has 
ceased, and the surface of the water has become 
tranquil, these elevations will be exhibited in the form of a curved 
line, passing round the interior surface of the glass, and above 
the surface of the water. If the action of the bow be strong, the 
water will be sprinkled on the inside of the glass, above the liquid 
surface, and this sprinkling will show the curved line very per- 
fectly, as in the engraving. The water should be carefully 
poured, so that the glass above the liquid be preserved dry ; the 




106 FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 

portion of the glass between the edge and the curved line, will 
then be seen partially sprinkled; but between the level of the 
water and the curved line, it will have become wholly wetted, 
thereby indicating the height to which the fluid has been thrown. 

CHARCOAL IN SUGAR. 

The elements of sugar are carbon and water, as may be proved 
by the following experiment : Put into a glass a table-spoonful of 
powdered sugar, and mix it into a thin paste with a little water, 
and rather more than its bulk of sulphuric acid; stir the mixture 
together, the sugar will soon blacken, froth up, and shoot like a 
cauliflower out of the glass : and, during the separation of the 
charcoal, a large quantity of steam will also be evolved. 

FLOATING NEEDLES. 

Fill a cup with water, gently lay on its surface small fine 
needles, and they will float. 

WATER IN A SLING. 

Half fill a mug with water, place it in a sling, and you may 
whirl it around you without spilling a drop ; for the water tends 
more away from the centre of motion towards the bottom of the 
mug, than towards the earth by gravity. 

ATTRACTION IN A GLASS OF WATER. 

Pour water into a glass tumbler, perfectly dry, and it may be 
raised above the edge, in a convex form; because the particles of 
the water have more attraction for each other than for the dry 
glass ; wet the edge, and they will be instantly attracted, and 
overflow, and the water will sink into a concave form. 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 107 

TO PREVENT CORK FLOATING IN WATER. 

Place at the bottom of a vessel of water, a piece of cork, so 
smoothly cut that no water gets between its lower surface and the 
surface of the bottom, when it will not rise, but remain fixed there, 
because it is pressed downward by the water from above, and there 
is no pressure from below to counter-balance it 

INSTANTANEOUS FREEZING. 

During frosty weather, let a vessel be half filled with water, 
cover ifc closely, and place it in the open air, in a situation where 
it will not experience any commotion : it will thereby frequently 
acquire a degree of cold more intense than that of ice, without 
being frozen. If the vessel, however, be agitated ever so little, 
or receive even a slight blow, the water will immediately freeze 
with singular rapidity. The cause of this phenomenon is, that 
water does not congeal unless its particles unite together, and 
assume among themselves a new arrangement. The colder the 
water becomes, the nearer its particles approach each other ; and 
the fluid which keeps it in fusion gradually escapes ; but the 
shaking of the vessel destroys the equilibrium, and the particles 
fall one upon another, uniting in a mass of ice. 

Or, provide a glass full of cold water, and let fall on its surface 
a few drops of sulphuret of carbon, which will instantly become 
covered with icy network : feathery branches will then dart from 
the sulphuret, the whole contents of the glass will become solidi- 
fied, and the globules will exhibit all the colours of the rainbow. 

TO FREEZE WATER WITH ETHER. 

Fill a very thin glass tube with water. Close it at one end, 
and wrap muslin round it : then frequently immerse the tube in 



108 FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 

strong ether, allowing what the muslin soaks each time to evapo- 
rate, and in a short time the water will be frozen. 

PRODUCTION OF NITRE. 

Dip into the above solution a piece of paper : if its colour be 
changed to brown, a drop or two more acid must be cautiously 
applied : if, on the contrary, it reddens litmus paper, a small glo- 
bule or two of potassium will be required ; the object being to 
obtain a neutral solution : if it then be carefully evaporated to 
about half its bulk, and set aside, beautiful crystals will begin to 
form, which will be those of the nitrate of potash, commonly 
called nitre, or saltpetre. 

CURIOUS TRANSPOSITION. 

Take a glass of jelly, and place it mouth downward, just under 
the surface of warm water in a basin : the jelly will soon be dis- 
solved by the heat, and, being heavier than the water, it will 
sink, while the glass will be filled with water in its stead. 

ANIMAL BAROMETER. 

Keep one or two leeches in a glass bottle nearly filled with 
water ; tie the mouth over with coarse linen, and change the 
water every two or three days. The leech may then serve for a 
barometer, as it will invariably ascend or descend in the water as 
the weather changes from dry to wet ; and it will generally come 
to the surface prior to a thunder-storm. 

MAGIC SOAP. 

Pour into a phial a small quantity of oil, with the same of 
water, and, however violently you shake them, they cannot be 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 109 

mixed, for the water and oil have no affinity for each other ; but, 
if a little ammonia be added, and the phial be then shaken, the 
whole will be mixed into a liquid soap. 

EQUAL PRESSURE OF WATER. 

Tie up in a bladder of water, an egg and a piece of very soft 
wax, and place it in a box, so as to touch its sides and bottom ; 
then, lay loosely upon the bladder a brass or other metal plate, 
upon which place a hundred pounds weight, or more ; when the 
egg and the wax, though pressed by the water with all its weight, 
being equally pressed in all directions, will not be in the least 
either crushed or altered in shape. 

TO EMPTY A GLASS UNDER WATER. 

Fill a wine-glass with water, place over its mouth a card, so 
as to prevent the water from escaping, and put the glass, mouth 
downwards, into a basin of water. Next, remove the card, and 
raise the glass partly above the surface, but keep its mouth below 
the surface, so that the glass still remains completely filled with 
water. Then insert one end of a quill or reed in the water below 
the mouth of the glass, and blow gently at the other end, when air 
will ascend in bubbles to the highest part of the glass, and expel 
the water from it ; and, if you continue to blow through the quill, 
all the water will be emptied from the glass, which will be filled 
with air. 

TO EMPTY A GLASS OF WATER WITHOUT TOUCHING IT. 

Hang over the edge of the glass a thick skein of cotton, and 
the water will slowly be decreased till the glass is empty. A towel 
will empty a basin of water in the same way. 



110 FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 

DECOMPOSITION OF WATER. 

The readiest means of decomposing water is as follows : take a 
gun-barrel, the breech of which has been removed, and fill it with 
iron wire, coiled up. Place it across a chafing-dish filled with 
lighted charcoal, and connect to one end of the barrel a small glass 
retort containing some water ; and, to the other, a bent tube, open- 
ing under the shelf of a water bath. Heat the barrel red hot, and 
apply a lamp under the retort : the stream of water, in passing 
over the red-hot iron of the barrel, will be decomposed, the oxygen 
will unite with the iron, and the hydrogen may be collected in the 
form of gas at the end of the tube over the water. 

WATER HEAVIER THAN WINE. 

Let a tumbler be half-filled with water, and fit upon its surface 
a piece of white paper, upon which pour wine; then carefully 
draw out the paper, say with a knitting-needle, so as to disturb the 
liquids as little as possible, and the water, being the heavier, will 
continue at the lower part of the glass ; whilst the wine, being the 
lighter, will keep above it. But, if a glass be first half-filled with 
wine, and water be poured over it, it will at once sink through the 
wine, and both liquids will be mixed. 

TO INFLATE A BLADDER WITHOUT AIR. 

Put a tea-spoonful of ether into a moistened bladder, the neck 
of which tie up tightly ; pour hot water upon the bladder, and 
the ether, by expanding, will fill it out. 

AIR AND WATER BALLOON. 

Procure a small hollow glass vessel, the shape of a balloon, 
the lower part of which is open, and place it in water, with the 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. Ill 

mouth downwards, so that the air within prevents the water 
filling it. Then fill a deep glass jar nearly to the top with 
water, and place the balloon to float on its surface ; tie over the 
jar with bladder, so as to confine the air between it and the 
surface of the water. Press the hand on the bladder, when 
more water will enter the balloon, and it will soon sink to the 
bottom of the jar ; but, on removing your hand, the balloon will 
again ascend slowly to the surface. 

HEATED AIR BALLOON. 

Make a balloon, by pasting together gores of bank post paper ; 
paste the lower ends round a sleuder hoop, from which proceed 
several wires, terminating in a kind of basket, sufficiently strong 
to support a sponge dipped in spirit of wine. When the spirit 
is set on fire, its combustion will produce a much greater degree 
of heat than any ordinary flame : and by thus rarefying the air 
within the balloon, will enable it to rise with great rapidity, to 
a considerable height. 

THE PNEUMATIC TINDER-BOX. 

Provide a small stout brass tube, about six inches long, and 
half an inch in diameter, closed at one end, and fitted with a 
hollow air-tight piston, containing in its cavity a scrap of amadon, 
or German tinder. Suddenly drive the piston into the tube by a 
strong jerk of the hands; and the compression of the air in the 
tube will give out so much heat as to light the tinder ; and upon 
quickly drawing out the piston, the glowing tinder will kindle a 
match. 

THE BACCHUS EXPERIMENT. 

This experiment, showing the elasticity of air, is performed 
with a pleasing toy. It represents a figure of Bacchus sitting 



112 FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 

across a cask, in which are two separate compartments. Put into 
one of them a portion of wine or coloured liquid, and place the 
apparatus under the exhausted receiver of an air-pump, when the 
elastic force of the confined air will cause the liquid to ascend a 
transparent glass tube, (fitted on purpose,) into the mouth of the 
Bacchanalian figure. To render the experiment more striking, a 
bladder, with a small quantity of air therein, is fastened around 
the figure, and covered with a loose silken robe, when the air in 
the bladder will expand, and produce an apparent increase in the 
bulk of the figure, as if occasioned by the excess of liquor drunk. 

THE MYSTERIOUS CIRCLES. 

Cut from a card two discs or circular pieces, about two inches 
in diameter ; in the centre of one of them make a hole, into which 
put the tube of a common quill, one end being even with the 
surface of the card. Make the other piece of card a little con- 
vex, and lay its centre over the end of the quill, with the con- 
cave side of the card downward ; the centre of the upper card 
being from one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch above the end of 
the quill. Attempt to blow off the upper card by blowing through 
the quill, and it will be found impossible. 

If, however, the edges of the two pieces of card be made to fit 
each other very accurately, the upper card will be moved, and 
sometimes it will be thrown off; but when the edges of the card 
are on two sides sufficiently far apart to permit the air to escape, 
the loose card will retain its position, even when the current of 
air sent against it be strong. The experiment will succeed 
equally well, whether the current of air be made from the mouth 
or from a pair of bellows. When the quill fits the card rather 
loosely, a comparatively light puff of air will throw both cards 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 113 

three or four feet in height. When, from the humidity of the 
breath, the upper surface of the perforated card has a little ex- 
panded, and the two opposite sides are somewhat depressed, these 
depressed sides may be distinctly seen to rise and approach the 
upper card, directly in proportion to the force of the current of air'. 

Another fact to be shown with this simple apparatus, appears 
equally inexplicable with the former. Lay the loose card upon 
the hand with the concave side up ; blow forcibly through the 
tube, and, at the same time, bring the two cards towards each 
other, when, within three-eighths of an inch, if the current of air 
be strong, the loose card will suddenly rise and adhere to the 
perforated card. If the card through which the tube passes have 
several holes made in it, the loose card may be instantly thrown 
off by a slight puff of air. 

For the explanation of the above phenomenon, a gold medal 
and one hundred guineas were offered, some years since, by the 
Royal Society. Such explanation has been given by Dr. Robert 
Hare, of Philadelphia, and is as follows : 

Supposing the diameter of the discs of card to be to that of the 
hole as 8 to 1, the area of the former to the latter, must be as 
64 to 1. Hence, if the discs were to be separated, (their surfaces 
remaining parallel,) with a velocity as great as that of the air 
blast, a column of air must meanwhile be interposed, sixty-four 
times greater than that which would escape from the tube during 
the interim ; consequently, if all the air necessary to preserve 
the balance be supplied from the tube, the discs must be separated 
with a velocity as much less than that of the blast, as the column 
required between them is greater than that yielded by the tube, 
and yet the air cannot be supplied from any other source, unless 



114 FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 

a deficit of pressure be created between the discs, unfavourable 
to their separation. 

It follows, then, that, under the circumstances in question, the 
discs cannot be made to move asunder with a velocity greater 
than one-sixty -fourth of that of the blast. Of course, all the force 
of the current of air through the tube will be expended on the 
moveable disc, and the thin ring of air which exists around the 
orifice between the discs : and, since the moveable disc can only 
move with one-sixty-fourth of the velocity of the blast, the ring of 
air in the interstice must experience nearly all the force of the jet, 
and must be driven outwards, the blast following it in various 
currents, radiating from the common centre of the tube and discs. 

prince rupert's drops. 

Let fall melted glass into cold water, and it will become sud- 
denly cooled and solidified on the outside before the internal part 
is changed ; then, as this part hardens, it is kept extended by the 
arch of the outside crust: and, if the finely drawn-out point of 
the drop be broken off, the cohesion of the atoms of the glass is 
destroyed, and the whole crumbles to dust with a smart explosion. 

VEGETABLE HYGROMETER. 

The dampness of the air, and the consequent approach of rain, 
is denoted by several simple means, which are termed hygrometers. 
Thus, if an ear of the wild oat be hung up, its awn or bristly 
points will be contracted by a rotatory motion in damp air, and 
relaxed by a contrary motion when the air is dry. Similar effects 
are observable on all cordage, string, and every description of 
twisted material ; as the moisture smells the threads, and increase 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 



115 



their diameter, but reduces their length ; hence, catgut is used in 
the construction of a weather-house, in which the man and woman 
foretel wet or dry weather, moving as the catgut stretches or 
contracts, according as the air is moist or dry, 

To prove the moving power of the awn, separate one from the 
ear, and, holding the base between the finger and thumb, moisten 
the awn with the lips, when it will be seen to turn round for some 
time. 



THE PNEUMATIC DANCER. 

This amusing pneumatic toy consists of a figure made of glass 
or enamel, and so constructed as to remain suspended in a glass 
A jar of water. An air-bubble, communicating with 
/fiiii% ^ e wa ^ er ' * s pl ace d m some part of the figure, shown 
at m, near the top of the jar, A, in the engraving. 
At the bottom, B, of the vessel is a bladder, which 
can be pressed upwards by applying the finger to 
the extremity of a lever, e o, when the pressure will 
be communicated through the water to the bubble of 
air, which is thus compressed. The figure will then 
sink to the bottom ; but, by removing the pressure, 
the figure will again rise, so that it may be made to 
dance in the vessel, as if by magic. Fishes, made of 
glass, are sometimes substituted for the human figure. 
A common glass jar maybe used for this experiment, 
in which case the pressure should be applied 
to the upper surface, which should be a piece 
of bladder, instead of being placed at the bot- 
tom, as shown in the figure engraved. 




116 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 



Fig. 2. 




THE ASCENDING SNAKE. 

To construct this pretty little pneumatic toy, take a square 
piece of stiff card, or sheet copper or brass, about two and a-half 
or three inches in diameter, and cut it out 
spirally, so as to resemble a snake, as in 
the engraving (fig. 1.). Then paint the 
body on each side of the card the colours 
of a snake ; take it by the two ends, and 
draw out the spiral till the distance from 
head to tail is six or seven inches, as in fig. 2. Next, 
provide a slender piece of wood on a stand, and fix a 
sharp needle at its summit ; push the rod up through the 
spiral, and let the end of the spiral rest upon the sum- 
mit of the needle. Now place the apparatus as nearly as possible 
to the edge of the mantel-shelf above the fire, and the snake will 
begin to revolve in the direction of its head ; and, if the fire be 
strong, or the current of heated air which ascends from it is made 
powerful, by two or three persons coming near it, so as to con- 
centrate the current, the snake will revolve very rapidly. The 
rod «, 6, should be painted, as so to resemble a tree, which the 
snake will appear to climb ; or, the snake may be suspended by 
a thread from the ceiling, over the current of air from a lamp. 
Two snakes may be made to turn round in opposite directions, by 
merely drawing out the spiral of one from the upper side, and of 
the other from the under side of the figure, and fixing them, of 
course, on separate rods. 



THE PNEUMATIC PHIAL. 



Provide a phial one-fourth filled with any coloured water, and 
with a glass tube passing through the cork, or cemented into the 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 117 

neck of the phial, so as to be air-tight ; the tube may reach to 
within a quarter of an inch of the bottom of the phial, so as to dip 
below the surface of the liquid. Hold this little instrument 
before the fire, or plunge it into hot water, when the air that is 
in the phial will expand, and force up the coloured liquor into 
the tube. 

RESIN BUBBLES. 

Dip the bowl of a tobacco-pipe into melted resin, hold the pipe 
in a vertical position, and blow through it ; when bubbles of 
various sizes will be formed, of a brilliant silvery hue, and in a 
variety of colours. 

MOISTURE OF THE ATMOSPHERE. 

Moisture is always present in the air, even when it is driest. 
To prove this, press a piece of sheet copper into the form of a 
cup; place on it a piece of phosphorus, thoroughly dried between 
blotting-paper ; put the cup on a dry plate, and beside it a small 
piece of quick lime ; turn over it a glass tumbler, and leave it for 
ten minutes, that the lime may remove all moisture from the in- 
cluded air ; take off the tumbler, touch the phosphorus with a hot 
wire, and instantly replace the glass; when a dry solid will be 
formed, resembling snow. As soon as the flame is extinct, ex- 
amine the plate ; when the solid will, in a very short time, attract 
so much water from the air, that it will pass into small drops 
of liquid. 

CLIMATES OF A ROOM. 

The air in a room may be said to resemble two climates : as it 
is lighter than the external air, a current of colder or heavier air 
is continually pouring in from the crevices of the windows and 



118 FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 

doors ; and the light air must find some vent, to make way for the 
heavy air. If the door be set a-jar, and a candle held near the 
upper part of it, the flame will be blown outwards, showing that 
there is a current of air flowing out from the upper part of the 
room; and, if the candle be placed on the floor, close by the door, 
the flame will bend inwards, showing that there is also a current 
of air setting into the lower part of the room. The upper current 
is the warm, light air, which is driven out to make way for the 
stream of cold, dense air, which enters below. 

BUBBLES ON CHAMPAGNE. 

Pour out a glass of champagne, or bottled ale, and wait till 
the effervescence has ceased ; you may then renew it by throwing 
into the liquor a bit of paper, a crumb of bread, or even by 
violently shaking the glass. The bubbles of carbonic acid chiefly 
rise from where the liquor is in contact with the glass, and is in 
greatest abundance at those parts where th ere are asperities. The 
bubbles setting out from the surface of the glass are at first very 
small ; but they enlarge in passing through the liquor. It seems 
as if they proceeded more abundantly from the bottom of the glass 
than from its sides ; but this is an ocular deception. 

PROOFS THAT AIR IS A HEAVY FLUID. 

Expel the air out of a pair of bellows, then close the nozzle 
and valve-hole beneath, and considerable force will be requisite 
to separate the boards from each other. This is caused by the 
pressure or weight of the atmosphere, which, acting equally upon 
the upper and lower boards externally, without any air inside, 
operates like a dead weight in keeping the boards together. In 
like manner, if you stop the end of a syringe, after its piston-rod 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 119 

has been pressed down to the bottom, and then attempt to draw it 
up again, considerable force will be requisite to raise it, depend- 
ing upon the size of the syringe, being about fourteen or fifteen 
pounds to every square inch of the piston rod. When the rod is 
drawn up, unless it be held, it will fall to the bottom, from the 
weight of the air pressing it in. 

Or, fill a glass tumbler to the brim with water, cover it with a 
piece of thin wet leather, invert it on a table, and try to pall it 
straight up, when it will be found to require considerable force. 
In this manner do snails, periwinkles, limpets, and other shells 
adhere to rocks, &c. Flies are enabled to walk on the ceiling of 
a room, up a looking-glass, or window-pane, by the air pressing 
on the outside of their peculiarly-constructed feet, and thus sup- 
porting them. 

To the same cause must be attributed the firmness with which 
the oyster closes itself; for, if you grind off a part of the shell, 
so as to make a hole in it, though without at all injuring the fish, 
it may be opened with great ease. 

TO SUPPORT A PEA ON AIR. 

This experiment may be dexterously performed by placing a 
pea upon a quill, or the stem of a tobacco-pipe, and blowing 
upwards through it. 

PYROPHORTJS, OR AIR-TINDER. 

Mix three parts of alum with one of wheat flour, and put them 
into a common phial ; set it in a crucible, up to the neck in 
sand ; then surround the crucible with red-hot coals, when first a 
black smoke, and next a blue sulphureous flame, will issue from 



120 FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 

the mouth of the phial; when this flame disappears, remove the 
crucible from the fire, and when cold, stop the phial with a good 
cork. If a portion of this powder be exposed to the air, it will 
take fire. 

Or, a very perfect and beautiful pyrophorus may be obtained 
by heating tartrate of lead in a glass tube, over a lamp. When 
some of the dark brown mass thus formed is shaken out in the 
air, it will immediately inflame, and brilliant globules of lead 
cover the ignited surface. 

Or, mix three parts of lamp-black, four of burnt alum, in 
powder, and eight of pearl-ash, and heat them for an hour, to a 
bright cherry red, in an iron tube. When well made, and poured 
out upon a glass plate or tile, this pyrophorus will kindle, with 
a series of small explosions, somewhat like those produced by 
throwing potassium upon water ; but this effect should be witnessed 
from a distance. 

Put a small piece of grey cast-iron into strong nitric acid, 
when a porous, spongy substance will be left untouched, and will 
be of a dark grey colour, resembling plumbago. If some of this 
be put upon blotting paper, in the course of a minute it will spon- 
taneously heat and smoke ; and, if a considerable quantity be 
heaped together, it will ignite and scorch the paper ; nor will the 
properties of this pyrophorus be destroyed by its being left for 
days and weeks in water. 

BEAUTY OF A SOAP BUBBLE. 

Blow a soap bubble, cover it with a clean glass to protect it 
from the air, and you may observe, after it has grown thin by 
standing a little, several rings of different colours within each 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 



121 



other round the top of it. The colour in the centre of the rings 
will vary with the thickness; but, as the bubble grows thinner, 
the rings will spread, the central spot will become white, then 
bluish, and then black ; after which the bubble will burst, from its 
extreme tenuity at the black spot, where the thickness has been 
proved not to exceed the 2,500,000th part of an inch. 



WHY A GUINEA FALLS MORE QUICKLY THAN A FEATHER 
THROUGH THE AIR. 

The resistance of the air to fallen bodies is not proportioned 
to the weight, but depends on the surface which the body opposes 
to the air. Now, the feather exposes, in propor- 
tion to its weight, a much greater surface to the 
air than a piece of gold does, and therefore suffers 
||J 8 a much greater resistance to its descent. Were 
the guinea beaten to the thinness of gold-leaf, it 
would be as long, or even longer in falling than 
the feather; but, let both fall in a vacuum, or 
under the receiver of an air-pump, from which 
the air has been pumped out, and they will both 
reach the bottom at the same time ; for gravity, 
acting independently of other forces, causes all 
bodies to descend with the same velocity. 

An apparatus for performing this experiment 
is shown in the engraving : the coin and the 
feather are to be laid together, on the brass flap, 
A or B : this may be let down by turning the wire, C, which 
passes through a collar of leather, D, placed in the head of the 
receiver. 




122 



FIRE, WATER, AND AIR. 



SOLIDITY OF AIR. 

Provide a glass tube, open at each end ; close the upper end 
by the finger, and immerse the lower one in a glass of water, 
when it will be seen that the air is material, and occupies its 
own space in the tube, for it will not permit the water to enter 
it until the finger is removed, when the air will escape, and the 
water rise to the same level in the inside as on the outside of 
the tube. 

BREATHING ANT) SMELLING. 

Hold the breath, and place the open neck of a phial, containing 
oil of peppermint, or any other essential oil, in the mouth, and 
the smell will not be perceived; but, after expiration, it will be 
easily recognised. 









^na^nd-ms 1 ^ ^s^riD) ©wiBHEi^snii^n 



^fg^HE chief requisites for success in the perform- 
m§~zz^ ance of feats of Magic are manual dexterity 
^§y and self-possession. The former can only be 
^0^ acquired by practice ; the latter will be the 
^^i^^i^S^/ natara ^ resu ^ °f a well-grounded confidence. 
wWS^i^^^l We subjoin a few preliminary hints, of con- 
siderable importance to the amateur exhibiter. 

1. Never acquaint the company before-hand with the particu- 
lars of the feat you are about to perform, as it will give them 
time to discover your mode of operation. 

2. Endeavour, as much as possible, to acquire various methods 
of performing the same feat, in order that if you should be likely 



126 SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 

to fail in one, or have reason to believe that your operations are 
suspected, you may be prepared with another. 

2. Never venture on a feat requiring manual dexterity, till 
you have previously practised it so often as to acquire the ne- 
cessary expertness. 

4. As diverting the attention of the company from too closely 
inspecting your manoeuvres is a most important object, you 
should manage to talk to them during the whole course of 
your proceedings. It is the plan of vulgar operators to gabble 
unintelligible jargon, and attribute their feats to some extraordi- 
nary and mysterious influence. There are few persons at the 
present day credulous enough to believe such trash, even among 
the rustic and most ignorant; but as the youth of maturer years 
might inadvertently be tempted to pursue this method, while 
exhibiting his skill before his younger companions, it may not 
be deemed superfluous to offer a caution against such a proce- 
dure. He may state, and truly, that every thing he exhibits 
can be accounted for on rational principles, and is only in obe- 
dience to the unerring laws of Nature ; and although we have 
just cautioned him against enabling the company themselves 
to detect his operations, there can be no objection (particularly 
when the party comprises many younger than himself) to occa- 
sionally show by what simple means the most apparently mar- 
vellous feats are accomplished. 



SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 127 

THE RING AND THE HANDKERCHIEF. 

This may be justly considered one of the most surprising 
sleights ; and yet it is so easy of performance, that any one may 
accomplish it after a few minutes' practice. 

You previously provide yourself with apiece of brass wire, 
pointed at both ends, and bent round so as to form a ring, about 
the size of a wedding-ring. This you conceal in your hand. 
You then commence your performance by borrowing a silk 
pocket handkerchief from a gentleman, and a wedding-ring from 
a lady ; and you request one person to hold two of the corners 
of the handkerchief, and another to hold the other two, and to keep 
them at full stretch. You next exhibit the wedding-ring to the 
company, and announce that you will make it appear to pass through 
the handkerchief. You then place your hand under the handker- 
chief, and substituting the false ring, which you had previously 
concealed, press it against the centre of the handkerchief, and de- 
sire a third person to take hold of the ring through the handker- 
chief, and to close his ringer and thumb through the hollow of 
the ring. The handkerchief is held in this manner for the pur- 
pose of showing that the ring has not been placed within a 
fold. You now desire the persons holding the corners of the 
handkerchief to let them drop ; the person holding the ring (through 
the handkerchief as already described) still retaining his hold. 

Let another person now grasp the handkerchief as tight as he 
pleases, three or four inches befow the ring, and tell the person 
holding the ring to let it go, when it will appear to the company 
that the ring is secure within the centre of the handkerchief. 
You then tell the person who grasps the handkerchief to hold 
a hat over it, and passing your hand underneath, you open the 
false ring, by bending one of its points a little aside, and bringing 



128 SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 

one point gently through the handkerchief, you easily draw out the 
remainder ; being careful to rub the hole yon have made in the 
handkerchief with your finger and thumb, to conceal the fracture. 
You then put the wedding-ring you borrowed over the outside 
of the middle of the handkerchief, and desiring the person who 
holds the hat, to take it away, you exhibit the ring (placed as 
described) to the company. 

THE KNOTTED HANDKERCHIEF. 

This feat consists in tying a number of hard knots in a pocket- 
handkerchief borrowed from one of the company, then letting any 
person hold the knots, and by the operator merely shaking the 
handkerchief, all the knots become unloosed, and the handker- 
chief is restored to its original state. 

To perform this excellent trick, get as soft a handkerchief as 
possible, and taking the opposite ends, one in each hand, throw the 
right hand over the left, and draw it through, as if you were 
going to tie a knot in the usual way. Again throw the right-hand 
end over the left, and give the left-hand end to some person to 
pull, you at the same time pulling the right-hand end with your 
right hand, while your left hand holds the handkerchief just be- 
hind the knot. Press the thumb of your left hand against the 
knot to prevent its slipping, always taking care to let the person 
to whom you gave one end pull first, so that, in fact, he is only 
pulling against your left hand. 

You now tie another knot exactly in the same way as the first, 
taking care always to throw the right-hand end over the left. As 
you go on tying the knots, you will find the right-hand end of the 
handkerchief decreasing considerably in length, while the left-hand 
one remains nearly as long as at first; because, in fact, you are 



SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 129 

merely tying the right-hand end round the left. To prevent this 
from being noticed, you should stoop down a little after each 
knot, and pretend to pull the knots tighter ; while, at the same 
time, you press the thumb of the right hand against the knot, 
and with the fingers and palm of the same hand, draw the hand- 
kerchief, so as to make the left-hand end shorter, keeping it at 
each knot as nearly the length of the right-hand end as possible. 

When you have tied as many knots as the handkerchief will 
admit of, hand them round for the company to feel that they are 
firm knots; then hold the handkerchief in your right hand, just 
below the knots, and with the left hand turn the loose part of the 
centre of the handkerchief over them, desiring some person to 
hold them. Before they take the handkerchief in hand, you draw 
out the right-hand end of the handkerchief, which you have in 
the right hand, and which you may easily do, and the knots being 
still held together by the loose part of the handkerchief, the 
person who holds the handkerchief will declare he feels them : 
you then take hold of one of the ends of the handkerchief which 
hangs down, and desire him to repeat after you, one — two — three, 
— then tell him to let go, when, by giving the handkerchief a 
smart shake, the whole of the knots will become unloosed. 

Should you, by accident, whilst tying the knots, give the 
wrong end to be pulled, a hard knot will be the consequence, and 
you will know when this has happened the instant you try to 
draw the left-hand end of the handkerchief shorter. You must, 
therefore, turn this mistake to the best advantage, by asking any 
one of the company to see how long it will take him to untie one 
knot, you counting the seconds. When he has untied the knot, 
your other knots will remain right as they were before. Having 
finished tying the knots, let the same person hold them, and tell 
10 



130 SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 

him that as he took two minutes to untie one knot, he ought to 
allow you fourteen minutes to untie the seven; but as you do not 
wish to take any advantage, you w 7 ill be satisfied with fourteen 
seconds. 

You may excite some laughter during the performance of this 
trick, by going to the owner of the handkerchief, and desiring 
him to assist you in pulling a knot, saying, that if the handker- 
chief is to be torn, it is only right that he should have a share of 
it ; you may likewise say that he does not pull very hard, which 
will cause a Jaugh against him. 

THE INVISIBLE SPRINGS. 

Take two pieces of white cotton cord, precisely alike in 
length; double each of them separately, so that their ends meet; 
then tie them together very neatly, with a bit of fine cotton 
thready at the part where they double (i. e. the middle). This 
must all be done beforehand. 

When you are about to exhibit the sleight, hand round two 
other pieces of cord, exactly similar in length and appearance 
to those which you have prepared, but not tied, and desire your 
company to examine them. You then return to your table, 
placing these cords at the edge, so that they fall (apparently 
accidentally) to the ground behind the table; stoop to pick them 
up, but take up the prepared ones instead, which you have pre- 
viously placed there, and lay them on the table. 

Having proceeded thus far, you take round for examination 
three ivory rings; those given to children when teething, and 
which may be bought at any of the toyshops, are the best for your 



SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 131 

purpose. When the rings have undergone a sufficient scrutiny, 
pass the prepared double cords through them, and give the two 
ends of one cord to one person to hold, and the two ends of the 
other to another. Do not let them pull hard, or the thread will 
break, and your trick be discovered. Request the two persons 
to approach each other, and desire each to give you one end of 
the cord which he holds, leaving to him the choice. You then 
say, that, to make all fast, you will tie these two ends together, 
which you do, bringing the knot down so as to touch the rings ; 
and returning to each person the end of the cord next to him, 
you state that this trick is performed by the rule of contrary, 
and that when you desire them to pull hard, they are to slacken, 
and vice versa, which is likely to create much laughter, as they 
are certain of making many mistakes at first. 

During this time, you are holding the rings on the fore-finger 
of each hand, and with the other fingers preventing your as- 
sistants from separating the cords prematurely, during their 
mistakes; you at length desire them, in a loud voice, to slacken, 
when they will pull hard, which will break the thread, the rings 
remaining in your hands, whilst the strings will remain un- 
broken: let them be again examined, and desire them to look for 
the springs in the rings. 

THE MIRACULOUS APPLE. 

To divide an apple into several parts, without breaking the 
rind : — Pass a needle and thread under the rind of the apple, 
which is easily done by putting the needle in again at the same 
hole it came out of; and so passing on till you have gone round 
the apple. Then take both ends of the thread in your hands 
and draw it out ; by which means the apple will be divided into 
two parts. In the same manner, you may divide it into as many 



132 



SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 



parts as you please, and yet the rind will remain entire. Present 
the apple to any one to peel, and it will immediately fall to pieces. 




THE SELF-BALANCED PAIL. 

You lay a stick across the table, letting one-third of it project 
over the edge; and you undertake to hang a pale of water on it, 
without either fastening the stick on the table, or letting the 
pail rest on any support ; and this feat, the laws of gravitation 
will enable you literally to accomplish. 

You take the pail of water, and hang it by the handle upon 

the projecting end of the stick, 
in such a manner that the 
handle may rest on it in an 
inclined position, with the mid- 
dle of the pail within the edge 
of the table. That it may be 
fixed in this situation, place another stick with one of its ends 
resting against the side at the bottom of the pail, and its other 
end against the first stick, where there should be a notch to re- 
tain it. By these means, the pail will remain fixed in that 
situation, without being able to incline to either side; nor can 
the stick slide along the table, or move along its edge, without 
raising the centre of gravity of the pail, and the water it contains. 

THE PHANTOM AT COMMAND. 

This feat is performed by means of confederacy.— Having 
privately apprised your confederate that when he hears you strike 
one blow, it signifies the letter A; when you strike two, it means 
B; and so on for the rest of the alphabet, you state to the company, 
that if anv one will walk into the adjoining room, and have the 



SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 133 

door locked upon him, perhaps the animal may appear to him 
which another person may name. 

In order to deter every one except your confederate from ac- 
cepting the offer, you announce at the same time, that the person 
who volunteers to be shut up in the room must be possessed of 
considerable courage, or he had better not undertake it. Having 
thus gained your end, you give your confederate a lamp, which 
burns with a very dismal light; telling him, in the hearing of the 
company, to place it on the middle of the floor, and not io feel 
alarmed at what he may happen to see. You then usher him 
into the room, and lock the door. 

You next take a piece of black paper, and a bit of chalk, and 
giving them to one of the party, you tell him to write the name 
of any animal he wishes to appear to the person shut up in the 
room. This being done, you receive back the paper, and after 
showing it round to the company, you fold it up, burn it in the 
candle, or lamp, and throw the ashes into a mortar; casting in at 
the same time a powder, which you state to be possessed of 
valuable properties. 

Having taken care to read what was written, you proceed to 
pound the ashes in the mortar thus: Suppose the word written 
to be CAT, you begin by stirring the pestle round the mortar 
several times, and then strike three distinct blows, loud enough 
for the confederate to hear, and by which he knows that the first 
letter of the word is C. You next make some irregular evolu- 
tions of the pestle round the mortar, that it may not appear to 
the company that you give nothing but blows, and you then 
strike one blow to denote A. Work the pestle about again, and 
then strike twenty blows, which he will know to mean T; 
finishing your manoeuvre by working the pestle about the 
mortar, the object being to make the blows as little remarkable 



134 SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 

as possible. You then call aloud to your confederate, and ask 
him what he sees. At first he is to make no reply. At length, 
after being interrogated several times, he asks if it be a CAT. 
That no mistake may be made, each party should repeat to 
himself the letters of the alphabet in the order of the blows. 

THE MIRACULOUS SHILLING. 

Provide a round box, the size of a large snuff-box, and like- 
wise eight other boxes, which will go easily into each other, 
letting the least of them be of the size to hold a shilling. Ob- 
serve that all these boxes must shut so freely that they may all 
be closed at once, by the covers accurately fitting within each 
other. 

Previously to commencing your performance, fit the boxes 
within each other, and place them in a table drawer at another 
part of the room. You also fit the covers in the same manner, 
and lay them by the side of the boxes ; you likewise provide a 
silk handkerchief, into one corner of which a shilling is sewed. 

You now commence your operations, by borrowing a shilling, 
desiring the lender to mark it, that it may not be changed. Take 
this shilling in your right hand, and the handkerchief in your 
left, pretending to place the shilling in the centre of the hand" 
kerchief; instead of which, you put the corner of the handker- 
chief in which a shilling was sewed, as previously described, 
concealing the borrowed shilling in your right hand. You then 
desire the person to feel that the shilling is there, and tell him 
to hold it tight. 

You now go to the drawer, and placing the borrowed shilling 
in the smallest of the boxes, you put on all the covers, by taking 
them in the centre between the fore-finger and thumb, to pre- 
vent their separation, and fit them on, by carefully sliding them 
along, and then pressing them down. 



SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 135 

Having thus closed your boxes, you produce what appears to 
be a single box, and lay it on the table. You now ask the person, 
who still retains his hold of the shilling in the handkerchief, if he 
is sure that it is there. He will reply in the affirmative ; you 
then request him to allow you to take the handkerchief, and 
having done so, you strike that part of the handkerchief contain- 
ing the shilling on the box, and immediately shake out the hand- 
kerchief, holding it by two corners, and shifting it round so as to 
get the shilling within your grasp : it will thus appear that the 
shilling is no longer there. You desire the person to open the box, 
and hand it round, till the shilling be found ; and when the last 
box is opened, and the shilling taken out, you ask the lender to 
state whether it is the one which he marked ; to which he must, 
of course, reply in the affirmative. 

THE LOCOMOTIVE SHILLING. 

Privately place a shilling, which you previously mark on the head 
side with a cross, under a candlestick, or in any other out-of-the- 
way situation, where it is not likely to be discovered. You next 
borrow a shilling of one of the company, and say : " Now I am 
going to show you a trick with this shilling, but that you may 
know it again, I will mark it." Then take your penknife, and cross 
it in the same manner as the one you have concealed ; show it to 
the person who lent it to you, and ask him if he will know it again. 
He will reply : "Yes; it is marked with a cross." Knock under 
the table , and say " Presto ! fly quickly !" at the same time, adroitly 
conveying the shilling into your pocket. You then tell the 
spectators that it is gone ; but you have a strong notion that if 
they look they will find it under the candlestick, (or whatever 
other place you may have concealed it in,) where the first shil- 
ling you marked will of course be found, and having the same 
marks as the genuine one will be mistaken for it. 



136 SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 

THE PENETRATIVE SIXPENCE. 

You profess that you will make a sixpence appear to pass 
through the table. To perform this feat, you must have a hand- 
kerchief, in one corner of which is sewed a sixpence. — Take it 
out of your pocket, and ask one of the company to lend you a 
sixpence, which you must seem to carefully wrap up in the 
middle of the handkerchief, but instead of which, you keep it in 
the palm of your hand, and in its stead, wrap up the corner in 
which the other sixpence is sewed, in the midst of thehankerchief, 
and bid the person from whom you borrowed the sixpence, feel 
that it is there. You then lay it under a hat upon the table, take 
a glass in the hand in which you have concealed the sixpence, 
and hold it under the table. Give three knocks upon the table, 
crying " Presto ! come quickly !" Then drop the sixpence into 
the glass ; bring the glass from under the table, and exhibit the 
sixpence to the spectators. You lastly take the handkerchief 
from under the hat, and shake it, taking care to hold it by the 
corner in which the sixpence was sewed. 

THE VANISHING SIXPENCE. 

Having previously stuck a small piece of white wax on the 
nail of your middle fmger, lay a sixpence on the palm of your 
hand, and addressing the company, state that it will vanish at the 
word of command. "Many persons," you observe, "perform this 
feat, by letting the sixpence fall into their sleeve ; but to convince 
you that I shall not have recourse to any such deception, I will 
turn up my cuffs." You then close your hand, and bringing the 
waxed nail in contact with the sixpence, it will firmly adhere to 
it. You then blow your hand, and cry " Begone !" and suddenly 
opening it, and exhibiting the palm, you show that the sixpence has 



SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 137 

vanished. If you borrow the sixpence of any of the company, 
take care to rub off the wax, before you restore it to the owner. 

TO MAKE A SIXPENCE BALANCE AND SPIN" ON ITS EDGE, ON 
THE POINT OF A NEEDLE. 

Procure a common wine-bottle, two forks, two corks, aneedle^ 
a sixpence, and a penknife. Having corked the bottle, force the 
eye of the needle into the cork perpendicularly, leaving more 
than half the needle sticking up. You next cut a small slit with 
the penknife in the centre of the bottom of the second cork, into 
which you insert the sixpence edgewise : then stick the forks into 
the upper cork, and, with a steady hand, place the edge of the 
sixpence on the point of the needle, and it will immediately find 
its balance. You may now take the upper cork between the 
finger and thumb, and spin it round as fast as you please, as the 
sixpence will not fall off. When it goes slow, hit one of the 
forks with your finger as it goes round, to increase its velocity. 

THE MULTIPLYING COIN. 

Let a tumbler be half-rilled with water ; put a sixpence in it : 
and holding a plate over the top, turn the glass upside down. 
The sixpence will fall down on the plate, and appear to be a 
shilling: while at the same time a sixpence will seem to be 
swimming in the water. If a shilling is put in the glass, it will 
have the appearance of a quarter of a dollar and a shilling; and 
if a quarter of a dollar were put in, it would seem to be half a 
dollar and a quarter of a dollar. 

MAGIC RAT TRAP. 

Prepare a pasteboard circle, upon one side of which draw 
a figure of a cage, and on the other side that of a rat. Near 



138 



SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 



the outer edge of the circle fasten two strings opposite each 
other. So that they may be held between the fore finger and 
thumb in such manner that the circle may be made to revolve 




rapidly. When it is set in motion the transition is so quick, that 
it presents the appearance of a rat in the cage. 

TO SHOW THE VELOCITY OF MOTION. 

Take a long hollow stalk or reed, suspend it horizontally by 
two loops of single hairs; by striking it with a sharp quick stroke 
at a point nearly in the centre, between the hairs, it may be cut 
through without breaking either of them. The hairs in this 
case would have been ruptured, if they had partaken of the force 
applied to the stalk; but the division of the latter being affected 
before the impulse could be propagated to the hairs, they must 
consequently remain unbroken. 

A smart blow, with a slight wand or hollow reed on the edge 
of a glass tumbler, would break the wand, without injury to the 
glass. 

Lay a small piece of money upon a card placed over the mouth 
of a glass tumbler, and resting upon the rim of the glass. The 
card may be withdrawn with such speed and dexterity, that the 
piece of money will not be removed laterally, but will drop into 
the glass. 



SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 139 

THE EXPLODING BUBBLE. 

If you take up a small quantity of melted glass with a tube, 
(the bowl of a common tobacco pipe will do,) and let a drop fall 
into a vessel of water, it will chill and condense with a fine 
spiral tail, which being broken, the whole substance will burst 
with a loud explosion, without injury either to the party that 
holds it, or him that breaks it ; but if the thick end is struck even 
with a hammer, it will not break. 

THE MAGIC PICTURE. 

Take two level pieces of glass, (plate glass is the best,) about 
three inches long and four wide, exactly of the same size; lay 
one on the other, and manage to leave a space between them by 
pasting a piece of card, or two or three small pieces of thick 
paper at each corner. 

Join these glasses together at the edge by a composition of 
lime slacked by exposure to the air, and white of an egg. Cover 
all the edges of these glasses with parchment or bladder, except 
at one end, which is to be left open to admit the following com- 
position: 

Dissolve by a slow fire six ounces of hog's-lard, with half an 
ounce of white wax ; to which you may add an ounce of clear 
linseed oil. 

This must be poured in its liquid state, and before a fire, be- 
tween the glasses, by the space left in the sides, and which you 
are then to close up. Wipe the glasses clean, and hold them 
before the fire, to see that the composition will not run out at 
any part. 

Then fasten with gum a picture or print, painted on very thin 



140 SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 

paper, with its face to one of the glasses, and if you like, you 
may fix the whole in a frame. 

While the mixture between the glasses is cold, the picture 
will be quite concealed, but become transparent when held to 
the fire; and as the composition cools, it will gradually disappear. 

ARTIFICIAL LIGHTNING. 

Provide a tin tube that is larger at one end than it is at the 
other, and in which there are several holes. Fill this tube with 
powdered resin; and when it is shook over the flame of a torch, 
the reflection will produce the exact appearance of lightning. 

THREE OBJECTS, DISCERNIBLE ONLY WITH BOTH EYES. 

If you fix three pieces of paper against the wall of a room at 
equal distances, at the height of your eye, placing yourself di- 
rectly before them, at a few yards' distance, and close your right 
eye, and look at them with your left, you will see only two of 
them, suppose the first and second; alter the position of your 
eye, and you will see the first and third ; alter your position a 
second time, you will see the second and third, but never the 
whole three together ; by which it appears, that a person who 
has only one eye can never see three objects placed in this po- 
sition, nor all the parts of one object of the same extent, without 
altering the situation of his eye. 

TO TELL BY A WATCH DIAL THE HOUR WHEN A PERSON 
INTENDS TO RISE. 

The person is told to set the hand of his watch at any hour 
he pleases, which hour he tells you; and you add in your own 
mind 12 to it. You then desire him to count privately the 
number of that addition on the dial, commencing at the next 



SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 141 

hour to that at which he intends to rise, and including the hour 
at which he has placed the hand; which will give the answer; 
for example, 

A intends to rise at 6 (this he conceals to himself;) he places 
the hand at 8, which he tells B, who, in his own mind, adds 12 
to 8, which make 20. B then tells A to count 20 on the dial, 
beginning at the next hour to that at which he proposes to rise ; 
which will be 7, and counting backwards, reckoning each hour 
as 1, and including in his addition the number of the hour the 
hand is placed at, the addition will end at 6, which is the hour 
proposed; thus, 

The hour the hand is placed at is 8 

The next hour to that which A intends to rise at is 7, 
which counts for 1 

Count back the hours from 6, and reckon them at 1 each, 
there will be 11 hours, viz. 4, 3, 2, 1, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 11 

Making 20 

TO MAKE A RING SUSPEND BY A THREAD, AFTER THE THREAD 
HAS BEEN BURNED. 

Soak a piece of thread in urine, or common salt and water. 
Tie it to a ring, not larger than a wedding ring. When you 
apply the flame of a candle to it, it will burn to ashes, but yet 
sustain the ring. 

TO MELT A PIECE OF MONEY IN A WALNUT-SHELL, WITHOUT 
INJURING THE SHELL. 

Bend any thin coin, and put it into half a walnut-shell ; place 
the shell on a little sand, to keep it steady. Then fill the shell, 
with a mixture made of three parts of very dry pounded nitre, 



142 SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 

one part of flowers of sulphur, and a little saw-dust well sifted. 
If you then set light to the mixture, you will find, when it is 
melted, that the metal will also be melted in the bottom of the 
shell, in form of a button, which will become hard when the 
burning" matter round it is consumed ; the shell will have sus- 
tained very little injury. 

THE MAGICAL MIRRORS. 

Make two holes in the wainscot of a room, each a foot high 
and ten inches wide, and about a foot distant from each other. 
Let these apertures be about the height of a man's head, and in 
each of them place a transparent glass in a frame, like a common 
mirror. 

Behind the partition, and directly facing each aperture, place 
two mirrors, inclosed in the wainscot, in an angle of forty-five 
degrees.* These mirrors are each to be eighteen inches square : 
and all the space between them must be enclosed with paste- 
board painted black, and well closed, that no light can enter ; let 
there be also two curtains to cover them, which you may draw 
aside at pleasure. 

When a person looks into one of these fictitious mirrors, in- 
stead of seeing his own face, he will see the object that is in 
front of the other ; thus, if two persons stand at the same time 
before these mirrors, instead of each seeing himself, they will 
reciprocally see each other. 

There should be a sconce with a lighted candle, placed on 
each side of the two glasses in the wainscot, to enlighten the 



* That is, half-way between a line drawn perpendicularly to the ground and 
its surface. 



SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 143 

faces of the persons who look in them, or the experiment will 
not have so remarkable an effect. 

THE ENCHANTED BOTTLE. 

Fill a glass bottle with water to the beginning of the neck; 
leave the neck empty, and cork it. Suspend this bottle opposite 
a concave mirror, and beyond its focus, that it may appear re- 
versed. Place yourself still further distant from the bottle; and 
instead of the water appearing, as it really is, at the bottom of 
the bottle, the bottom will be empty, and the water seen at 
the top. 

If the bottle be suspended with the neck downwards, it will be 
reflected in its natural position, and the water at the bottom, 
although, in reality, it is inverted, and fills the neck, leaving the 
bottom vacant While the bottle is in this position, uncork it, 
and let the water run gradually out : it will appear, that while 
the real bottle is emptying, the reflected one is filling. Care 
must be taken that the bottle is not more than half or three parts 
full, and that no other liquid is used but water, as in either of 
these cases, the illusion ceases. 

THE ARMED APPARITION. 

If a person with a drawn sword place himself before a large 
concave mirror, but further from it than its focus, he will see an 
inverted image of himself in the air, between him and the mirror, 
of a less size than himself. If he steadily present the sword 
towards the centre of the mirror, an image of the sword will 
come out from it, point to point, as if to fence with him; and by 
his pushing the sword nearer, the image will appear to come 
nearer to him and almost to touch his breast. If the mirror be 



144 SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 

turned 45 degrees, or one-eighth round, the reflected image will 
go out perpendicular to the direction of the sword presented, and 
apparently come to another person placed in the direction of the 
motion of the image, who, if he be unacquainted with the expe- 
riment, and does not see the original sword, will be much sur- 
prised and alarmed. 

TO EXTRACT THE SILVER OUT OF A RING, THAT IS THICK 
GILDED, SO THAT THE GOLD MAY REMAIN ENTIRE. 

Take a silver ring that is thick gilded. Make a little hole 
through the gold into the silver ; then put the ring into aqua- 
fortis, in a warm place: it will dissolve the silver, and the gold 
will remain whole. 

CURIOUS EXPERIMENT WITH A GLASS OF WATER. 

Saturate a certain quantity of water in a moderate heat, with 
three ounces of sugar ; and when it will no longer receive that 
there is still room in it for two ounces of salt of tartar, and after 
that for an ounce and a drachm of green vitriol, nearly six 
drachms of nitre, the same of salammoniac, two drachms and a 
scruple of alum, and a drachm and a half of borax. 

A LUMINOUS BOTTLE, WHICH WILL SHOW THE HOUR ON A 
WATCH IN THE DARK. 

Throw a bit of phosphorous, of the size of a pea, into a long 
glass phial, and pour boiling oil carefully over it, till the phial is 
one-third filled. The phial must be carefully corked, and when 
used should be unstopped, to admit the external air, and closed 
again. The empty space of the phial will then appear luminous, 
and give as much light as an ordinary lamp. Each time that 



SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 145 

the light disappears, on removing the stopper it will instantly 
re-appear. In cold weather the bottle should be warmed in the 
hands before the stopper is removed. A phial thus prepared 
may be used every night for six months. 



RUSES. 

THE WONDERFUL HAT. 

Place three pieces of bread, or other eatable, at a little distance 
from each other on a table, and cover each with a hat; you then 
take up the first hat, and removing the bread, put it into your 
mouth, and let your company see that you swallow it ; then raise 
the second hat, and eat the bread which was under that, and do 
the same with the third. Having eaten the three pieces, give 
any person in company liberty to choose under which hat he 
would wish those three pieces of bread to be; when he has made 
choice of one of the hats, put it on your head, and ask him if he 
does not think that they are under it. 

TO BRING A PERSON DOWN UPON A FEATHER. 

This is a practical pun: — You desire any one to stand on a 
chair or table, and you tell him that, notwithstanding his weight, 
you will bring him down upon a feather. You then leave the 
room, and procuring a feather from a feather-bed, you give it to 
him, and tell him you have performed your promise, — that you 
engaged to bring him down upon a feather, which you have done; 
for there is the feather, and, if he looks, he'll find down upon it. 
11 



146 SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 

THE APPARENT IMPOSSIBILITY. 

You profess yourself able to show any one what he never saw* 
what you never saw, and what nobody else ever saw, and which, 
after you two have seen, nobody else ever shall see. 

After requesting the company to guess this riddle, and they 
have professed themselves unable to do so, produce a nut, and 
having cracked it, take out the kernel, and ask them if they have 
ever seen that before ; they will of course answer, No ; you reply, 
neither have I, and I think you will confess that nobody else has 
ever seen it, and now no one shall ever see it again ; saying 
which, you put the kernel into your mouth and eat it. 

AN OMELET COOKED IN A HAT, OVER THE FLAME OF A 
CANDLE. 

You ask the company if they would like an omelet cooked ; 
then you break four eggs in a hat, place the hat for a short time 
over the flame of a candle, and shortly after produce an omelet, 
completely cooked, and quite hot. 

Some persons would be credulous enough to believe that by 
the help of certain ingredients you had been enabled to cook the 
omelet without fire ; but the secret of the trick is, that the omelet 
had been previously cooked and placed in the hat, but could not 
be seen, because the operator, when breaking the eggs, placed 
it too high for the spectators to observe the contents. The eggs 
were empty ones, the contents having been previously extracted, 
by being sucked through a small aperture, but to prevent the 
company from suspecting this, the operator manages, as if by 
accident, to let a full one fall on the table, which breaking, in- 
duces a belief that the others are also full. 



SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 147 



THE IMPOSSIBLE OMELET. 

You produce some butter, eggs, and other ingredients for 
making an omelet, together with a frying-pan, in a room where 
there is a fire, and state, that the cleverest cook will not be able 
to make an omelet with them. The w 7 ager is won by having 
previously caused the eggs to be boiled very hard. 

GO IF YOU CAN. 

You tell a person that you will clasp his hands together in 
such a manner, that he shall not be able to leave the room with- 
out unclasping them, although you will not confine his feet, or 
bend his body, or in any way oppose his exit. 

The trick is performed by clasping the party's hands round the 
pillar of a large circular table or other bulky article of furniture, 
too large for him to drag through the doorway. 

THE FIGURE PUZZLE. 

You assert that you can prove the half of nine to be either 

"PEl f° ur or s ^ x 5 an d ^c half of twelve to be seven. To 

TL2j^ make this manifest you have only to draw a nine or a 

^jZLTTL twelve in numerals, and fold the paper across the mid" 

,-ZxXA ^^ as - m t k e m argim 

THE VISIBLE INVISIBLE. 

You tell the company that you will place a candle in such a 
manner that every person in the room, except one, shall see it ; 
yet you will not blindfold him, nor in any way restrain his 
person, or offer the least impediment to his examining or going 



148 SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 

to any part of the room he pleases. This trick is accomplished 
by placing the candle on the party's head; but it cannot be per- 
formed if a looking-glass is in the room, as that will enable him 
to turn the laugh against you. 

THE DOUBLE MEANING. 

Place a glass of any liquid upon the table, put a hat over it, 
and say : " I will engage to drink the liquid under that hat, and 
yet I'll not touch the hat." You then get under the table, and 
after giving three knocks, you make a noise with your mouth as 
if you were swallowing the liquid. Then getting from under 
the table, you say : " Now, gentlemen, be pleased to look." Some 
one, eager to see if you have drunk the liquid, will raise up the 
hat, when you instantly take the glass, and drink the contents, 
saying : " Gentlemen, I have fulfilled my promise. You are all 
witnesses that I did not touch the hat." 

QUITE TIRED OUT. 

You undertake to make a person so tired, by attempting to 
carry a small stick out of the room, as to be unable to accomplish 
it, although you will add nothing to his burthen, nor lay any re- 
straint upon his personal liberty. To perform this manoeuvre, 
you take up the stick, and cutting off a very small sliver, you 
direct him to carry it out of the room, and return for more ; con- 
cluding by telling him, that you mean him to perform as many 
similar journeys as you can cut pieces off the stick. As this may 
be made to amount to many thousands, he will of course gladly 
give up the undertaking. 

SOMETHING OUT OF THE COMMON. 

Having picked a stick or stone off a common, you tell a person 
that you are about to show him something which will surprise him, 



SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 149 

— something, in fact, quite out of the common. Having thus 
excited his curiosity, you produce the stick or stone, or whatever 
else you may have picked up, which of course he will examine 
very intently, and at length observe, that he sees nothing extra- 
ordinary in it. " That may be," you reply, " and yet, I assure 
you, that it is really something out of the common." This will, 
no doubt, set him upon a fresh examination, which will naturally 
end in his asking for an explanation. This you give, by telling 
him that " though not uncommon, it is out of the common, for it 

is out of Common ;" and no doubt, the company present will 

indulge in a hearty laugh at the querist's expense. 

TO RUB ONE SIXPENCE INTO TWO. 

Previously wet a sixpence slightly, and stick it to the under 
edge of a table, (without a cover,) at the place where you are 
sitting. You then borrow a sixpence from one of the company, 
and tucking up your sleeves very high, and opening your ringers, 
to show that you have not another concealed, rub it quickly 
backwards and forwards on the table, with your right hand, 
holding your left under the edge of the table to catch it. After 
two or three feigned unsuccessful attempts to accomplish your 
object, you loosen the concealed sixpence with the tips of the 
fingers of the left hand, at the same time that you are sweeping 
the borrowed sixpence into it; and rubbing them a little while 
together in your hands, you throw them both on the table. 

MAGIC CIRCLE. 

You tell a person you will place him in the centre of a room, 
and draw a circle of chalk round him, which shall not exceed 
three feet in diameter, yet out of which he shall not be able to 



150 



SLEIGHTS AND SUBTLETIES. 



leap, though his legs shall be perfectly free. When the party- 
has exhausted his ingenuity in trying to discover by what means 
you can prevent his accomplishing so seemingly easy a task, you 
ask him if he will try, and on his assenting, you bring him into 
the middle of the room, and having requested him to button his 
coat tightly, you draw with a piece of chalk, a circle round his 
waist, outside his coat, and tell him to jump out of it ! 

It will greatly improve this trick if the person be blindfolded, 
as he will not be aware of the mode of performing it till the 
bandage is removed, provided his attention be diverted while you 
are drawing the line round him, 





ILLUSIONS OF TOUCH. 




Jpply the points of a pair of compasses, distant 
from each other one or two lines, to the cheek, 
just before the ear ; then move them succes- 
sively to several other parts of the cheek, and 
you will find, on approaching the mouth, that 
the points will appear to recede from each 
other; this effect being produced by the great difference of the 
sense of touch in these parts, It is a general law, that in the 
more sensitive portions of the skin, any two points appear to be 
further asunder from each other, than points of equal distance 
appear to be to a less sensitive portion. The same experiments 
may be made by holding together the extremities of the fore- 
finger and thumb, and then passing the tips of both in a line from 
the ear to either the upper or the under lip ; as they approach 
the latter, they will feel to the cheek as if they were becoming 
more and more distant from each other. 



If the skin be touched with the points of a pair of compasses, 
one inch asunder, the person so touched, while he shuts his eyes, 



154 MELANGE. 

will instantly be aware that his skin is touched in two places ; 
but by continually drawing the two points closer, a degree of 
nearness may be reached at which the person will imagine his 
skin to be touched by only one body : he will, however, describe 
this body, or the compasses, to be a little longer in one direction 
than another ; and it appears that this difference of length cor- 
responds with the distance between the two points of the com- 
passes. When these points are brought still nearer together, 
the inequality will no longer be felt, and the person will fancy 
he is being touched by one body only. 

Handle a pea : it is one — place it between the first and second 
fingers of the right hand, in their natural position, and you will 
still feel the pea but as one. Then cross the two fingers, bring- 
ing the second over the first, and place the pea in the fork be- 
tween them, so as to feel the left side of the pea with the right 
side of the second finger, and the right with the left of the first 
The impression will then be that you have two peas touching the 
fingers, especially if the eyes be shut, and the fingers be placed 
by another person. The illusion will be equally strong if the 
two fore-fingers of both hands be crossed, and the pea placed be- 
tween them. 

ILLUSION OF THE TASTE. 

If the nose be held tightly while you are eating cinnamon you 
will perceive scarcely any difference between its flavour and 
that of a deal shaving, 

THE GENERAL BLEACHER. 

Provide some strong chloride of lime, soak in it strips of 
printed cotton ; take them out, dry them, and you will find them 



MELANGE. 155 

very white, but very rotten, slitting and dropping into holes upon 
the slightest touch. 

The dazzling whiteness of paper is caused by bleaching it with 
chloride of lime. Thus, if you write on printing paper with 
common ink, it will fade, because the chloride will destroy the 
colouring matter of writing ink. It will not, however, change 
printing ink, as that owes its blackness to charcoal, which is a 
singularly permanent substance. Blot over a printed page with 
common writing ink, wash it with chloride of lime, when the 
blots will disappear, and leave the printing unchanged. 

INFLUENCE OF COLOURED GLASS ON BULBOUS ROOTS. 

Put a bulb, as a hyacinth, narcissus, &c., into a white glass, 
and another into a purple glass: the latter will grow faster than 
the former; and, if a pinch of salt, or a piece of nitre, be put into 
the water whenever it is changed, the brightness of the colour 
of the flower will be considerably heightened, 

THE SPINNING-TOP " ASLEEP." 

Spin a top, and it will for some time stand "asleep," as it is 
called in the parlance of the play-ground. The cause is thus 
explained by Dr. Arnot, in his valuable Elements of Physics : 
" While the top is perfectly upright, its point being directly un- 
der its centre, supports it steadily, and although turning so ra- 
pidly, has no tendency to move from the place; but, if the top 
incline at all, the side of the peg, instead of the very point, 
comes in contact with the floor, and the peg then becomes a 
little wheel or roller, advancing quickly, and, with its touching 



156 MELANGE. 

edge, describing a curve somewhat as a skaiter does, until it be- 
comes directly under the body of the top, as before. It thus ap- 
pears that the very fact of the top inclining causes the point to 
shift its place, so that it cannot rest until it come again directly 
under the centre of the top." 

TO JUDGE OF WEIGHTS. 

Persons accustomed to estimate weights by poising them in 
their hands, will distinguish perfectly between two, only differing 
by a thirtieth part. In comparing two weights, poise one and 
then instantly the other, in the same hand ; the few seconds of 
time that pass between the poising of the two weights will not 
prevent their accurate comparison. The interval may amount 
to twenty seconds, yet a just estimate may still be made; but 
when it amounts to forty seconds, all accuracy will be lost. 

QUICKSILVER AND OIL UNITED. 

Let fall a very small drop of oil upon a large drop of mercury, 
and the latter will become enlarged. This phenomenon is at- 
tributed to a combination of the oil with the mercury, which 
produces a compound, the attraction of which is less strong than 
that of pure mercury. 

TO DISSOLVE THE SODA IN GLASS. 

Glass consists of sand, carbonate of soda, and red lead, heated 
together. If water be poured into a glass vessel, neither of the 
ingredients will be affected by it; but, if the glass be reduced to 
a fine powder, and water be poured on it, the soda will instantly 
be dissolved. 



MELANGE. 157 

Or, moisten, with water a piece of tumeric, or test-paper, drop 
on it a little powdered glass, and the soda in it will change the 
yellow paper to brown. 

WATERPROOF PAPER. 

Make a solution of caoutchouc in caoutchoucine, plunge into 
it, once or twice, unsized paper, and dry it by a gentle heat. It 
may then be used as writing paper, and will resist all humidity ; 
and small vessels made of it will even contain water. 

TO DISSOLVE GOLD OR PLATINUM. 

Mix a little nitric acid with half the quantity of muriatic acid, 
into which put the metal for solution. 

Or, pour a little aqueous solution of chlorine into a small glass, 
and put in a bit of pure gold leaf; stir it with a glass rod, and 
the gold will dissolve. Thus gold, which cannot be dissolved in 
nitric, sulphuric, or other strong acids, will quickly disappear in 
water, with a little chlorine in solution. 

COLDER THAN ICE. 

Mix common salt with pounded ice or snow, and they will run 
into brine, which will be much colder than the ice or snow. 

CONTRA-CRYSTALLIZATION. 

Dissolve two ounces of nitre and three of Glauber salts in five 
ounces of warm water; fill two bottles with the solution, into 
one of which put a crystal of nitre, and into the other a crystal 
of Glauber salts ; place both bottles in ice-cold water, when 
nitre only will crystallize in the one and Glauber salts in the 
other. 



158 MELANGE* 



ONE AND ONE DO NOT MAKE TWO. 

Mix a wine-glass full of sulphuric acid with a wine-glass full 
of water, cautiously: and, on re-measuring the mixture, it will 
not be found sufficient to re-fill both glasses. 



TO COPY WRITING INSTANTLY. 

Add a little sugar to ink, with which write the letter to be 
copied; then lay a sheet of thin unsized paper, damped with a 
sponge, on the writing; pass lightly over it a flat iron, very 
moderately heated, and a reverse impression of the writing will 
be accurately taken off. 

THE RIVAL DIALS. 

Fix two pendulum clocks to the same wall, or lay two watches 
upon the same table, and they will take the same rate of going, 
though they would vary in that rate if they were placed in sepa- 
rate apartments. Indeed, it has been observed, that the pendu- 
lum of one clock will even stop that of the other, and that the 
stopped pendulum will, after a certain time, go again, and, in its 
turn stop the other pendulum. 

TO SPIN INDIAN RUBBER. 

Dissolve a small piece of Indian rubber in a little caoutchou- 
cine, and put a drop or two of the solution upon a looking-glass 
or window-pane; touch it lightly with a dry piece of Indian 
rubber, quickly draw out a fine thread, which attach to a card, 
and wind off as silk. 



MELANGE. 159 

INDELIBLE WRITING. 

As the art of man can unmake whatever his ingenuity can 
make, we have no right to expect an indelible ink; however, an 
approximation to it may be made as follows : make a saturated 
solution of indigo and madder in boiling water, in such propor- 
tions as to give a purple tint; add to it from one-sixth to one- 
eighth of its weight of sulphuric acid, according to the thickness 
and strength of the paper to be used. Write with this ink, and 
expose the paper to a gradual heat from the fire, when the char- 
acters will be completely black, the letters being burnt in and 
charred by the sulphuric acid. If the acid has not been used in 
sufficient quantity to destroy the texture of the paper, and re- 
duce it to the state of tinder, the colour may be discharged by 
washing it with a strong solution of oxalic acid in water. When 
the full proportion of acid has been employed, crumple and rub 
the paper, and the charred letters will fall out; then by placing 
a black ground behind the letters, they may be preserved, and 
thus a species of indelible writing may be procured, the letters 
being, as it were, stamped out of the paper. 

VEGETABLE ANATOMY. 

Soak any part of a plant in nitric acid for a short space of 
time, and all power of cohesion will be lost by the vessels, 
which will become transparent, and be easily separable from each 
other by gentle dissection. So complete will be the effect, that 
even the most delicate cells of the cellular tissue will become 
disengaged from each other, and may be examined singly with 
perfect ease. This discovery will enable persons who have not 
compound microscopes, and delicate directing instruments, to 
anatomize plants with facility. 



160 MELANGE. 

TO TELL WHAT O'CLOCK IT IS BY THE MOON. 

This may be calculated by the shadow which the moon casts 
upon a sun-dial, it being only necessary to know the moon's age, 
which may be found in an almanack. If the new moon happens 
in the morning, this day is taken into the account ; but if it hap- 
pens after noon, the following day is counted the first. The 
moon's age is to be multiplied by four and divided by five. The 
quotient must either be added to the hour, which the shadow in- 
dicates on the sun-dial, and the sum will give the time sought; 
or subtract from the quotient the hour shown by the moon upon 
the dial, and the remainder will give the hour sought. The first 
is to be done when the shadow falls on an hour of the afternoon, 
and the latter when it falls upon an hour of the forenoon. The 
following are examples : 

1st. Suppose the moon to be ten days old, and the shade cast 
by the moon upon the sun-dial to be at half-past two; or, that the 
shadow cast by the moon falls on the place at which the shadow 
cast by the sun stands at half-past two; — what o'clock was it 
then? The answer is calculated as follows: — The moon's age, 
10 days X 4 = 40 %° = 8. Eight, therefore, is the time when 
the moon was in the meridian, and 8 -f- 2^ = 10^, or half-past 
ten, the hour sought. 

2d. Suppose the moon to have been 18 days old, and the 
shadow T cast by it on the sun-dial to have marked eleven. This 
time is subtracted from the hour when the moon was in the 
meridian on that day, and from which the hour marked by the 
shadow must be deducted. The shadow 7 shows here 11 o'clock 
in the forenoon, or one hour before noon, which, deducted from 
2h. 24m. gives In. 24m. : 2f — 1 = If, or 24 minutes past 
one o'clock. 



MELANGE. 



161 



THE PHYSIOGNOTYPE, 

This is a newly-invented instrument, by the aid of which a 
person may have a plaster cast of his face taken without sub- 
mitting to the usual unpleasant process. 

It consists of an assemblage of very fine moveable wires, con. 
fined closely together within a broad hoop or band, after the 

manner of the bristles in a 
telescope hearth-brush, but 
not closed at the back, in or- 
der to allow to the wires a 
free passage. The wires 
slide in a metal plate, perfo- 
rated all over with holes, 
very fine and close together. 
The apparatus is surrounded 
by an outer case which is 
filled with warm water, in order to prevent any unpleasant sen- 
sation on the contact of the instrument with the skin. 

When it is desired to take a likeness, the instrument is ap- 
plied to the face with a gentle and gradual pressure, the wires 
easily yield and slide back, conformably to the prominences of 
the countenance ; they are then fixed tightly in their position, 
and thus form a mould which will yield a perfect and faithful 
cast of the face, in which even the most minute line will ap- 
pear with the strictest accuracy. 




INFINITE DIVISIBILITY OF MATTER. 

Dissolve a single grain of copper in about one dram of nitric 
acid, and dilute the solution with about one ounce of water, when 

12 



162 MELANGE. 

it will be evident that a single drop of the mixture must contain 
an almost immeasurably small portion of copper. Yet, if the 
blade of a knife be dipped into it, it will become covered with a 
coat of copper ; thus showing that the copper can be infinitely 
divided without any alteration in its properties. 

HOLDING THE BREATH. 

If a person inspire deeply, he will be able, immediately after, 
to hold breath for a time, varying with his health, state of exer- 
tion, or repose. A man, during an active walk, may not be able 
to cease breathing for more than half a minute ; but, after resting 
on a chair or bed, he may refrain from breathing for a minute and 
a half, or even two minutes. But if he will prepare himself by 
breathing deeply, hardly, and quickly (as he would naturally do 
after running), and ceasing that operation with his lungs full of 
air, then hold his breath as long as he is able, he will find that 
the time, during which he can remain without breathing, will 
be double, or even more than double the former. This effect 
may be rendered exceedingly serviceable, as on many occasions 
a man who can hold breath for a minute, or two minutes, may 
save the life of another; such as in entering a chamber on fire, 
rescuing from drowning, &c. 

SAND IN THE HOUR-GLASS. 

It is a remarkable fact, that the flow of sand in the hour-glass 
is perfectly equable, whatever may be the quantity in the glass; 
that is, the sand runs no faster when the upper half of the glass 
is quite full than when it is nearly empty. It would, however, 
be natural enough to conclude that, when full of sand, it would 



MELANGE. 163 

be more swiftly urged through the aperture, than when the glass 
was only a quarter full, and near the close of the hour. 

The fact of the even flow of sand may be proved by a very 
simple experiment. Provide some silver sand, dry it over or 
before the fire, and pass it through a tolerably fine sieve. Then 
take a tube, of any length or diameter, closed at one end, in 
which make a small hole, say the eighth of an inch ; stop this 
with a peg, and fill up the tube with the sifted sand. Hold the 
tube steadily, or fix it to a wall, or frame, at any height from 
a table ; remove the peg, and permit the sand to flow in any 
measure for any given time, and note the quantity. Then, let 
the tube be emptied, and only half or a quarter filled with 
sand, measure again, for a like time, and the same quantity of 
sand will flow: even if you press the sand in the tube with a 
ruler or stick, the flow of the sand through the hole will not be 
increased. 

The above is explained by the fact, that when the sand is 
poured into the tube s it fills it with a succession of conical heaps, 
and that all the weight which the bottom of the tube sustains, is 
only that of the heap which first falls upon it; as the succeeding 
heaps do not press downward, but only against the sides or walls 
of the tube. 

RESISTANCE OF SAND. 

From the above experiment it may be concluded, that it is 
extremely difficult to thrust sand out of a tube by means of a 
fitting plug or piston ; and this, upon trial, is found to be the 
case. Fit a piston to a tube (exactly like a boy's pop-gun), 
pour some sand in, and try with the utmost strength of the arm 
to push out the sand. It will be found impossible to do this: 



164 MELANGE. 

rather than the sand should be shot out, the tube will burst at 
the sides. 

GLASS BROKEN BY SAND. 

If bullets be let fall on glass which has been cooled in the 
open air, they will not break it ; but, if a few grains of sand be 
let fall on the same kind of glass, it will be broken into a 
thousand pieces ! This is explained by the lead not scratching 
the surface of the glass; whereas the sand, being sharp and 
angular, scratches sufficiently to break it. 

TO BLEACH IVORY. 

Place any piece of discoloured ivory beneath a glass, expose it 
to the sun, and it will soon be restored to pure whiteness; 
whereas, if the ivory be exposed to the sun without the glass 
covering, it will become more discoloured. 

VANISHING SHELLS. 

Put into a little diluted muriatic acid, a common whelk-shell, 
when it will be completely dissolved, and not a sensible trace of 
it left behind. 

If an oyster-shell, or land snail-shell be put into the acid, their 
substances will disappear, but the form or skeleton of the shells 
will remain. 

THE MAGIC EGG. 

Fill a basin with dilute muriatic acid, and put into it an egg, 
which will sink; but, in a few seconds, the whole of the egg-shell 
being covered with bubbles of carbonic acid gas, will rise to the 
surface, a portion of the egg will be lifted above the surface, and 



MELANGE. 165 

the whole egg will slowly rotate. This rotation is formed by 
the bubbles of gas forming at the under part of the egg, and over 
all the submersed portions, which render them lighter than the 
portions above the liquid level, till the under portion ascends and 
the other descends. 

THE MAGIC WHIRLPOOL. 

Fill a glass tumbler with water, throw upon its surface a few 
fragments or thin shavings of camphor, and they will instantly 
begin to move and acquire a motion, both progressive and rotatory, 
which will continue for a considerable time. During these ro- 
tations, if the water be touched by any substance which is at all 
greasy, the floating particles will quickly dart back, and, as if 
by a stroke of magic, be instantly deprived of their motion and 
vivacity. 

In like manner, if thin slices of cork be steeped in sulphuric 
ether in a closed bottle, for two or three days, and then placed 
upon the water, they will rotate for several minutes, like the 
camphor ; until the slices of cork having discharged all their 
ether, and become soaked with water, they will keep at rest. 

If the water be made hot, the motion of the camphor will be 
more rapid than in cold water, but it will cease in proportionately 
less time. Thus, provide two glasses, one containing water at 
58 degrees, and the other at 210 degrees; place raspings of cam- 
phor upon each at the same time; the camphor in the first glass 
will rotate for about five hours, until all but a very minute portion 
has evaporated, while the rotation of the camphor in the hot water 
will last only nineteen minutes ; about half the camphor will pass 
off, and the remaining pieces, instead of being dull, white, and 



166 MELANGE. 

opaque, will be vitreous and transparent, and evidently soaked with 
water. The gyrations, too, which at first will be very rapid, will 
gradually decline in velocity, until they become quite sluggish. 

The stilling influence of oil upon waves has become proverbial: 
the extraordinary manner in which a small quantity of oil instantly 
spreads over a very large surface of troubled water, and the 
stealthy manner in which even a rough wind glides over it, must 
have excited the admiration of all who have witnessed it. 

By the same principle, a drop of oil may be made to stop the 
motion of the camphor as follows: throw some camphor, both in 
slices and in small particles, upon the surface of water, and while 
they are rotating, dip a glass rod into oil of turpentine, and allow a 
single drop thereof to trickle down the inner side of the glass to the 
surface of the water; the camphor will instantly dart to the oppo- 
site point of the liquid surface, and cease to rotate. If a piece of 
hard tallow or lard be employed, the motion of the camphor will be 
more slowly stopped than by oil or fluid grease, as the latter 
spreads over the surface of the water with greater rapidity. 

If a few drops of sulphuric or muriatic acid be let fall into the 
water, they will gradually stop the motion of the camphor; but, if 
camphor be dropped into nitric acid diluted with its own bulk 
of water, it will rotate rapidly for a few seconds and then stop. 

If a piece of the rotating camphor be attentively examined 
with a lens, the currents of the water can be well distinguished, 
jetting out, chiefly from the corners of the camphor, and bearing 
it round with irregular force. 

The currents, as given out by the camphor, may also be seen by 
means of the microscope ; a drop or two of pure water being placed 



MELANGE. 167 

upon a slip of glass, with a particle of camphor floating upon it. 
By this means, the currents may be detected, and it will be seen 
that they cause the rotations. 

Or, a flat watch-glass, called a lunar, may be employed, raised 
a few inches, and supported on a wire ring, kept steady by 
thrusting one end into an upright piece of wood, like a retort 
stand. Then put the camphor and water in the watch-glass, and 
place under the frame a sheet of white paper, so that it may 
receive the shadow of the glass, camphor, &c, to be cast by a 
steady light placed above, and somewhat on one side of the 
watch-glass. On observing the shadow, which may be con- 
sidered a magnified representation of the object itself, the ro- 
tations and currents can be distinguished.* 

MAGIC PORCELAIN. 

A peculiar kind of porcelain was formerly manufactured in 
China, which exhibited its colour and devices only when filled 
with water. Though the art of manufacturing this porcelain has 
been lost, and the mode cannot now be described with accuracy, 
the following has been conjectured as not very remote from the 
truth. The first requisite was that the vessel be extremely 
thin, so that the figures to be formed might be sufficiently clear 
and perceptible. After the vessel has been baked, the figures, 
which were mostly fish, (as those were most appropriate with 
the water), were formed on the inside ; and, after the colour had 
dried, a second extremely thin coat, of the same substance as that 
of which the vessel was constructed, was lain on the inside and 
varnished. The fish, or other device, would then, it is evident, 

* Abridged from the Magazine of Popular Science, vol. iii. 



168 MELANGE. 

be enclosed between the two coats of the ware of which the 
vessel was made. All that remained to be done was to grind 
the outside of the vessel as close to the figures as possible, to 
varnish it again, and bake it a second time ; and though, after 
this operation, the figures and embellishments would not be at 
all perceptible, yet, so soon as the vessel was filled with water, 
they would at once be rendered clear and distinct to a degree 
scarcely credible. Attempts have been made to revive this 
beautiful art, but hitherto without success. 

A GALVANIC TONGUE. 

Coat the point of the tongue with tin-foil, and its middle part 
with gold or silver leaf; when a sourish taste will be produced, 
and the tongue will be galvanised. 

DRINKING PORTER OUT OF PEWTER. 

If porter be drunk out of a pewter pot, it will produce a more 
brisk sensation than when it is taken out of a glass vessel, which 
is ascribed to a galvanic effect. In this instance there is a com- 
bination of one metal and two dissimilar fluids, which combina- 
tion constitutes a galvanic circle. In the act of drinking, one 
side of the pewter pot is exposed to the action of the saliva, 
which moistens the lip, while the other metallic side is in con- 
tact w r ith the porter; the circuit being thus completed, an agreea- 
ble relish is communicated to the beverage when it comes in 
contact with the tongue. 

ELECTRIC OR GALVANIC PRESERVATION. 

Immerse a slip of copper in dilute nitric acid, and it will be 
soon corroded and dissolved ; but, if a slip of zinc be immersed 



MELANGE. 169 

with the copper, the zinc will be dissolved, and the copper re- 
main unaltered and uninjured., 

LIGHT FROM THE DIAMOND. 

Expose a fine diamond to the sunbeams, and carry it into a 
dark room, when it will exhibit phosphorescence : and it has been 
stated that such diamonds as do not display this peculiarity, may 
be made to do so by dipping them into melted borax. 

The diamond becomes phosphorescent also when fixed to the 
prime conductor of an electrical machine, and a few sparks may 
be taken from it. It likewise becomes electric by friction; and 
the Hon. Mr. Boyle obtained electric gleams by rubbing two 
diamonds together in the dark. 

TO BREAK A STONE WITH A BLOW OF THE FIST. 

Select two stones from three to six inches long, and about 
half as thick ; lay one flat on the ground, on which place one end 
of the other, raising the reverse end to an angle of forty -five de- 
grees, and just over the centre of the stone (with which it must 
form a T,) supporting it in that position by a piece of thin twig 
or stick, one, or one and a half inch long ; if the raised stone be 
now smartly struck about the centre, with the little finger side 
of the fist, the stick will give way, and the stone will be broken 
to pieces : the stones must be laid so as not to slip, otherwise the 
experiment will fail. 

MIMIC FROST-WORK. 

Fasten a sprig of fresh rosemary, or any similar shrub, to the 
inside of a small bandbox, near the top ; heat a thick tile, and 
sprinkle it with gum benzoic, and immediately place the bandbox 



170 MELANGE. 

over it, when the acid will be sublimed by the heat, and will 
condense in a white vapour upon the green plant, giving it the 
appearance of being covered with hoarfrost* 



TO MELT LEAD IN A PIECE OF PAPER. 

Wrap up a very smooth ball of lead in a piece of paper, taking 
care that there be no wrinkles in it, and that it be everywhere 
in contact with the ball; if it be held in this state, over the flame 
of a taper, the lead will be melted without the paper being burnt. 
The lead, indeed, when once fused, will not fail in a short time 
to pierce the paper, and run through. 

HYDROSTATIC BALANCE. 

Provide a pair of scales, in one of which place a tumbler filled 
with water, and poise it by placing weights in the opposite scale ; 
then hold in the tumbler a block of wood, or any substance nearly 
the size of the tumbler, but so that it shall not touch the sides or 
bottom; when, although nearly the whole of the water will have 
to run over the sides, and only a spoonful may remain, the scales 
will continue balanced ; and all this without regard to the weight 
of the body you plunge into the water, taking care to hold it en- 
tirely clear of the tumbler, so that it touch it nowhere ; for the 
effect will be the same if what you plunge in be scooped hollow 
and made water-tight. A bladder blown up, tied fast, and held 
down in the water, so as to leave only a spoonful of water sur- 
rounding it, will keep the scales balanced just as well as a block 
of lead of the same size. 



MELANGE. 171 

METALLIC REDUCTION. 

Mix a little red lead with some powdered charcoal, and with 
the mixture fill the bowl of a tobacco-pipe ; set it over a common 
fire, and in about twenty minutes the lead will be found reduced 
to its metallic state. 



SIMPLE ELECTRICITY. 



ELECTRICAL ATTRACTION AND REPULSION. 

Rub a piece of amber, a stick of red sealing-wax, or a smooth 
glass tube, smartly upon the sleeve of a coat, or any other dry 
woollen substance, and it will attract to itself bits of straw, paper, 
fragments of gold leaf, or any small and light bodies. The am- 
ber, wax, or glass, is then said to be excited, and the attractive 
power thus developed, is called electrical attraction. 

Select a clean and dry downy feather, and suspend it from a 
beam by a long thread of white silk; to be used in the following 
experiments : 

Provide a glass tube, about three feet long and three quarters of 
an inch diameter; wipe it dry, and rub it gently with a warm 
silk handkerchief; then apply the tube to the feather, and it will 
attract it ; withdraw the tube gently, apply it again, and the 



172 MELANGE, 

feather will be repelled for a time, but then attracted, and then 
again repelled. In this case, the feather having received elec- 
tricity from the glass, is repelled by it; for bodies similarly 
electrified repel each other. 

Fold a silk handkerchief, warm it, and with it rub the tube ; 
apply it to the feather, and it will first attract and then repel it; 
when the feather has just been repelled by the silk, apply the 
tube, and the feather will be attracted. The handkerchief must 
be folded so thickly as to keep the hand as far as possible from 
the glass tube. 

Roll up flannel thickly, rub it with sealing-wax, and the roll 
will by turns attract and repel the feather; when thus repelled, 
apply the excited wax, and it will instantly attract the feather. 

When the atmosphere is dry, take in one hand a rod of glass 
and in the other a stick of sealing-wax, and rub them against silk 
or worsted ; with one of them approach a bit of gold-leaf, floating 
in the air, it will first attract and then repel it. When the gold 
has just been repelled, approach it with the other rod, and it will 
be immediately attracted ; and this alternate attraction and re- 
pulsion may be strikingly displayed by placing the two excited 
rods at a small distance asunder, with the gold leaf between them. 

ALCHEMICAL ELECTRICITY. 

Nearly fill a wine-glass with a weak solution of blue vitriol in 
water, and place in it the blade of a knife and a small silver 
spoon ; the knife will soon acquire a copper coating, but the spoon 
will remain bright until it is touched with the blade of the knife, 
when it will also become plated with copper. 



MELANGE. 173 



THE ELECTRIC BALLS. 



Provide two small balls of equal size ; both made of gum-lac, 
and cover one with gold leaf. Suspend these balls from a beam 
by fine white silk threads, at a little distance from each other, so 
as to allow a comparison of their motions. Then rub a stick of 
red sealing-wax upon any woollen substance, or warm it at the 
fire, and present it to the balls; when it will beat once seen that 
the gilt ball, which readily admits of the transfer of electricity 
from one side to the other, will be sooner and more powerfully 
attracted than the other ball, which allows of no motion in its 
electricity. The latter ball will, however, by slow degrees be 
feebly attracted, and may, at length, be made to adhere for a 
considerable time to the sealing-wax. 

THE ELECTRIC DANCE. 

Lay on a table small pieces of paper or cotton, feathers, or 
gold-leaf; then rub with a silk handkerchief a glass tube, hold it 
parallel to the table, and the several pieces will be alternately at- 
tracted and repelled, and a kind of electrical dance will be kept up. 

If to the further end of the tube you hang a brass ball, by a 
thread of linen, hemp, or metallic wire, the ball will participate 
in the magic power of the rubbed tube; but if the ball be sus- 
pended by a cord of silk, worsted, or hair, or be attached by wax 
or pitch, the attractive and repulsive properties of the rod will 
not pass into the ball. 

ELECTRIC LIGHT. 

Shake a barometer in a dark room, and light will be produced 
in the empty part of it by the friction of the quicksilver electri- 



174 MELANGE. 

fying the glass tube. Even the friction of air upon glass is at- 
tended by electricity, as has been found by blowing upon a dry 
plate of glass with a pair of bellows. 

ELECTRIC LIGHT FROM BROWN PAPER. 

Provide a piece of thick brown paper, thoroughly dry and 
warm ; rub the paper briskly in a dark room, and there will dart 
forth flashes of electric light to the fingers, to a key, or to any 
other conductor that may be presented to it 

Heat a small portion of sulphate of quinine in a spoon over 
the flame of a lamp, and it will become luminous and highly 
electrical. 

SUDDEN PRODUCTION OF LIGHT. 

Take a piece of dry and warm wood into a dark room, sud- 
denly rend it asunder, and a flash of light will be perceived. The 
same effect may likewise be produced by suddenly snapping 
asunder a stick of sealing-wax in the dark. 

Or, break a Prince Rupert's drop, and electrical light will 
pervade the whole, so that its form will be distinctly visible in 
the dark. The light will appear, even if the experiment be 
made under water. 

ELECTRICITY OF THE CAT. 

Place your left hand upon the throat of the cat, and, with the 
middle finger and the thumb, press slightly the bones of the 
animal's shoulders; then, if the right hand be gently passed along 
the back, perceptible shocks of electricity will be felt in the left 
hand. Shocks may also be obtained by touching the tips of 
the ears after rubbing the back. If the colour of the cat be black, 



MELANGE. 175 

and the experiment be made in a dark room, the electric sparks 
may be very plainly seen. 

Very distinct discharges of electricity may also be obtained by 
touching the tips of the ears, after applying friction to the back ; 
and the same may be obtained from the foot. Placing the cat on 
your knees, apply your right hand to the back; the left fore paw 
resting on the palm of your left hand, apply the thumb to the 
upper side of the paw, so as to extend the claws, and, by this 
means, bring your fore-finger into contact with one of the bones 
of the leg, where it joins the paw; when, from the knob or end 
of this bone, the ringer slightly pressing on it, you may feel dis- 
tinctly successive shocks, similar to those obtained from the ears. 

It is, perhaps, unnecessary to add, that, in order to this experi- 
ment being conveniently performed, the experimenter must be 
on good terms with the cat. 




